Chatsworth House

Our train back from Scotland was uneventful, and we made it into Sheffield safely on Friday night.  The next morning we got to eat at my favorite pub here and show my mom where Danielle and I used to spend too much of our money buying the hot cocoa special.  We then headed for the bus that would take us to Bakewell...but we never quite made it there.  If you know me at all, you know that I don't have the best sense of direction, and I tend to get lost even if signs are posted all over the highway.  It's as if I have an inner GPS that does the complete opposite of what it's supposed to do and there is no way to fix it.  

Instead of getting off at our stop in Bakewell, I made a last minute decision to jump off the bus at the stop in Baslow, except I didn't know it was Baslow.  I thought it was Bakewell.  The bus driver was about to take off when I got out of my seat and made Danielle and my mom follow. I'm convinced that the driver knew all along that I wanted to go to Bakewell (I mean I did buy our tickets from him) but decided not to tell me.  He had a cheeky grin as I rushed off the bus which makes me think he was laughing at my mistake.

Anyway, we read a sign that said you could walk to Chatsworth House (our final destination) so we opted to do this instead of wait for the next bus.  BIG MISTAKE!  We walked for a little while and then saw a sign that said we had 3 miles to go, and we had just run out of sidewalk. Did we turn around? Nope.  We walked on the "side" of the road which consisted of bushes that we literally had to hug each time a car passed us.  Pedestrians are not welcome to walk along those kinds of roads, but we had no where else to go at this point.  Every time a car rounded the corner, we huddled against the bushes and prayed no one got hurt.

We walked a mile and realized something had to be done because there was no way we could keep gong on like this.  We were miserable, and I was mortified by all the buses that kept passing us.  I know everyone in them was making fun of "those Americans."  Well Danielle had fallen a ways behind my mom and I, and at one point when I turned around, she was talking to someone in a car.  Yup.  She had done what I was too chicken to do.  She flagged down a car and asked for help.  The next thing I know, the three of us are getting into the car with Barbara and her husband, and they're driving us to Chatsworth House.  Danielle saves the day!  The couple were from Wales and were actually going to the house as well, so it worked out perfectly.

So why all the trouble to go see this house?  Well the Chatsworth Estate consists of 12,000 acres and is Mr. Darcy's home (Pemberly) in the Hollywood version of Pride and Prejudice. I've been wanting to visit here ever since I arrived in Sheffield, but I have been waiting so my mom could see it too.

Later that weekend, we went and saw a new take on the classic novel Emma by Jane Austen. This isn't necessarily my favorite novel written by Austen (Pride and Prejudice is just too good) but it is definitely my favorite movie.  The play was very unique in that it had present day people discussing the play between the acts but the same people were also acting out the play set in the 1700's.  Five people acted all the parts (some of them playing 2 and 3 characters), and they did an amazing job.  There was also interaction with the audience before and after the play and these are pictures of Danielle, Jeannie, my mom and I sketching our own portraits of the actress who played Emma.  The play wasn't at all what I expected, but I loved it!