Kids delighted in lamb trails and fiendish maze at Chatsworth
CHATSWORTH is the estate that keeps on giving – and although I’ve been a few times, I wanted to see, for the benefit of our readers, just what the Derbyshire pile has to offer in the summer months for the kids.
Personally, I’ve always gone for the amazing wildlife, trees from around the world and quite wonderful outdoor sculpture, but for this job I recruited my partner, Joanie Lucy Edge, and her beautiful and handilyaged daughters – Aoife, four, Bria, seven, and Niamh, 10 - a proper cross-section of the small people demograph.
The fact that we were all given free press passes was a good start, and left me well-stocked with brownie points. Then it just got better.
We were early, so managed to get a head start around the house, and the kids were some of the first to try out the new ‘Lamb Trails.’
Each child is given a small card wallet and the task is to find a cuddly lamb and then follow instructions located nearby in a kind of treasure hunt. The prize is a collectors card which can be slotted into the wallet. If I recall correctly there were 10 cards altogether and the characters on the cards were all linked to the history of Chatsworth.
To be fair, I think for someone of Aoife’s age finding the lamb was enough, but the other girls managed to collect enough to keep them occupied with a little help from us and the house staff.
For the rest of the summer there are three actors who take on the characters of three important people from Chatsworth’s past, and they will be wandering from room to room assisting both adults and youngsters alike.
For 500 years people have carefully manipulated nature’s materials and managed the elements to create the house, garden and park.
Visitors can hear from these skilled men and women as they highlight hidden corners of the house, peel back layers and share their stories past and present. Visitors are invited to get up close and personal with the fabric of the house and see things from a new angle.
Present day workmen echo the work of the past as they prepare the building for another 100 years; for example lead specialist Wayne Hall. He explained: “When people come I want them to see our lead work on the roofs, because that’s what makes Chatsworth for me. If they didn’t have the lead roof on this place would not exist.”
So far so good, and if you have not been, my own personal highlights include the library, the flying hare sculpture sited in an internal courtyard, and the quite remarkable painting of a violin on a wooden panel - so realistic it looks like you could reach up and take it from the wall.
Next week I will talk about the amazing carved wall decorations of game birds, but in the meantime, you just need to know that apart from the farm and adventure playground, the open spaces on the estate are enough to satisfy any child of any age.
Imagine the Breughel painting where he depicts children playing 50 different games in one painting, that’s what it was like last week once the girls left the house. There was no need to be too careful any more, no priceless piece of porcelain to break, and they laughed and played together for two hours, rolling down the slopes and laughing out loud as they got lost in the very tricky maze.
As a word of caution to adults, don’t go in thinking you will crack it first time. I gave up and went and sat outside and just enjoyed the sound of the girls shrieking with laughter as they led their mum a merry dance. My early capitulation cost me half of the previously-earned brownie points but hey-ho, I’m still in front. »»Visit www.chatsworth. org for further details.