Ok this is real late! On Thursday 21st March, I travelled to
Chatsworth House with my friend from college so that we could get some primary research for our FMP. Now I have been here before but I was a lot younger and I couldn't quite remember it. But WOW!! I think that this trip was the best that I have done!!
It took us 3-4 hours to get around the whole house as we took so long drawing and taking pictures and just simply looking around but I have NEVER seen so much gold on one building apart from Buckingham Palace but that is the Queen's home!!!
We went through the main entrance and into the hall with the staircase which was just breath taking!! I spent a good 40mins drawing just the golden stair case. The amount of detail on it and the carpet that leads up to another staircase is ridiculously beautiful! I loved it and the whole room was one big mural! and the celling! just WOW! Also just to add note my sketchbook page from this room was AMAZING, best one of the day and I will another day do a sketchbook review.
<<< To the left is the detailing of the golden staircase, I loved the swirls on each motif that ran along the stairs. I think that when you see detailing up so close, pictures can not do it justice especially not with this house! If you look closely at my picture, you will be able to make out the leaves that are coming off of the swirls and you can not notice how thick it is!
>>> To the right their is an image of the whole of the staircase and you can almost
see what I mean about the detailing of the carpet. It was so thick and
the colours were so vivid. Also in this image you can see how much gold
their really is!!
After this room, we entered the drawing room I believe which was covered entirely of gold! It was EVERYWHERE. It had two silk covered thrones, two marble tables, lots of paintings and a really cool door with a painting of a violin on a door which looked like another door and I am going to have to put a picture up otherwise I can not explain my self!
In this picture unfortunately you can not see it quite as clearly and it certainly does not do that door/painting justice. I didn't even realise that it wasn't real it was so good! it does just look like there is a violin casually hanging there!
Also from this picture you can tell what I mean by it is a golden room! The whole room is like this, gold everywhere you look it is pretty incredible.
Adjacent to this room is the King's Quarters I believe it was called, and this room was so rice in red and gold and blue. I also found out some rather cool facts about this room which I shall tell you all about. In this room I mainly concentrated on looking at colour and pattern.
This picture is not to the best quality, but this is because the room was so dark as they were not allowed to have the curtains open as this room is so old and precious that the sun would damage everything inside.
*Cool Facts*
- The Duke paid £100 for a china vase which would have been filled with tulips to to remove any bad odours. Also this was in the days when £1 was your annual wage!!
- The Duke was NOT allowed to stay in this room as he was not from a high enough class and only the King was allowed in this room.
- King Richard did NOT like this room and the second time he came to visit, he asked to be moved room.
- As the Duchess of Devonshire (I am unsure which one) was the lady in waiting for a Queen, when she died, she took the Queens dressing table with her.
We also saw one of the most iconic painting of Georgina the Duchess of Devonshire and may others, but I was mainly interested in Georgina as I watched
The Duchess the other night and I loved it and then I had to Google her (good old Mr Google knowing EVERYTHING! What would my life be with out him?!) and I fell in love with the story and I have found out that their is a biography about her which I have to go and buy!!
....ANYWAYS.... Did you know, that this was only one of many homes for the 5th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire? Although I was told that they visited Chatsworth often.
Also which is pretty awesome is the fact that the current Duke and Duchess of Devonshire allow the public to look into their private quarter and into their rather impressive library which I would die to spend just a few hours in! The books are so old and I bet they have so may secrets would be quite fun to read even if I wouldn't be able to understand their English/writing! Also the Duke is often seen as he regularly holds meetings in his library and he sometimes goes for a casual chat with people.
Now this was probably my favourite room purely due to the bath in the room, I mean this is where the terms En-Suite began!
I love how its casually chilling in the wardrobe! could you imagine,
"Darling I'm just jumping into our wardrobe, don't mind me, I'm feeling like a dip in our rather modern bath!"
hahahahahaha
I LOVE IT! haha plus all the trimmings on the door are of gold and their is a mirror chilling in and out of the doors so you can have a little peak at how clean you look, oooo Darling hehe
*FACT MOMENT*
Did you know that the reason the bath is put inside the wardrobe is due to the fact that they did not find it proper for their washing area to be on display.
Oh what I would do to live in those eras for just a month, not being greedy although I would like to have experienced it as a Duchess or Queen.
So this is the fun adventures that I underwent in Chatsworth House.
Do go its amazing fun although I must admit it is much more fun with your friend and sketchbook because due to the fact that you have to analysis it sooooo much you end up making really random stories and imagining the people who once lived there. Well my friend and I did anyway hehe
And for the Grand Finale, Chatsworth House
P.S. HELLO PINK VASE!!!! This was probably the highlight of my trip as Pink is my favourite colour in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD and look and that vase! Beautiful, Stunning, Spectacular!!
