Ramblin’ with History

On our last day in Derbyshire, we rambled both in the hills and along the River Derwent. I’ve long appreciated the wide public access to the English countryside, of which I’ve taken substantial advantage over the years on visits to the Yorkshire Dales and Moors, Devon, Cornwall, Sussex, Shropshire, the Brecon Beacons, the south Wales coast, the Lake District, and Norfolk—not to mention many rambles on Scotland’s mainland and the Isle of Skye, and along the west coast of Ireland.

Further On Natural vs. Artificial Rockeries

As noted in a previous Derbyshire installment, a certain R.B.L. of Boston, in an article dated 1851, took a dim view of artificial rockeries in general, and the Chatsworth Rockery in particular. R.B.L. threw down the gauntlet from the first sentence:

Hangin’ with the Revolutionaries at The Dog Inn

Well, not exactly. These days, The Dog Inn is an appealing gastro pub, and Pentrich a pretty village with tidy homes and attractive gardens. Beyond excellent fish and chips, the Dog Inn’s bar menu serves such things as a variety of chargrilled flatbreads (“made in house every day”):

In the Duke’s and Duchess’s Garden

Perhaps the greatest influence on the Chatsworth estate gardens was a man named Joseph Paxton. Paxton began his gardening life as a laborer in the Horticultural Society gardens. [citation]

Visiting Mr. Darcy’s Mansion

Chatsworth House

Well, not exactly, though it’s said that Jane Austen may have “based her idea of Pemberley on Chatsworth House”:

The eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of the valley into which the road into some abruptness wound.