Change in Time - Change in Values

During the course of our England visit, I had on my list to visit Chatsworth House, the large, impressive estate of the Duke(s) of Devonshire, the gardens of which were originally designed by the preeminent landscape architect Capability Brown in 1758-66 under the fourth Duke of Devonshire, and later maintained and expanded by Joseph Paxton, the object of my particular study and the point of this visit.  Joseph Paxton was the architect of the 1851 Crystal Palace for the World Exposition, but was really a landscape planner and manager - a "gardener's boy" according to Queen Victoria - for the sixth Duke of Devonshire as his patron.  I wanted to see these gardens, his greenhouses, and to get the sense of the place and all that inspired the Crystal Palace.

Chatsworth House on the Derwent River

It is magnificent, to say the least, well maintained, very popular, active gardens.  The house is a demonstration of the various Duke's commitment to art and other worldly pursuits over the centuries, sumptuous in its abundant decor, ceiling murals depicting scenes that could be construed as deference to the King - in a word, over-the-top.  It is said that much of the rich work done in these rooms was to impress the King upon a visit therefrom, such visit had never come until Queen Victoria visited Paxton's lily house.  All that effort and expense just to please your Highness.  What would the peasants think if they could even have seen.  But such a treasure the site and estate is for its promotion and preservation of some priceless art and grounds.

Only one tiny part of the gardens - and Paxton's greenhouses

The private Chapel at Chatsworth

Just the day before, staying in the town of Bakewell, Becky and I hiked the several miles on a wet and muddy track to Haddon Hall, not realizing ahead of time that it existed, and  that we could take the time to visit it and get a bit of walking in before our longer journey.  We arrived at this 11th -14th century Tudor/Elizabethan estate, muddy and a bit wet, thinking we would not gain admission (even though wet and muddy seems a common trait in these parts of  the English Peaks District).  But we did get in, and were completely humbled and taken in by the simplicity of the place, the hallowed sense of the place, indeed, it was as if the ancestors merely left and made no special attempt to shut the door! It was as if transported back in time, especially the tiny, austere, and very simple chapel.  The great hall with its stone floor and walk-in fireplace where events were held might have hosted one yesterday.  And the rooms, while certainly opulent for their time, did not seem overly so.  And even as a visited site, the Rutland family still lives there, accommodates visitors simply with no guided path or audio guides, able to almost sense the living in this place.  And there were not that many visitors.  It was a remarkable step back in time, and so completely unlike Chatsworth House, both as a visiting experience, and in its very creation, that made the rain and mud quite worth it.

The Inner Court at Haddon Hall

Haddon Hall from the excellent English gardens

A detail of the "fresco" at Haddon Hall private Chapel - note the skeletal figure

Hiking back to Bakewell over the hills and vales of the Derbyshire countryside gave me an opportunity to reflect on these two distinct places, and what life must have been like - was it really any different?