We decided to have 3 days at Chatsworth CMC site before heading off to the Torchlight Festival. It’s a lovely site with spacious pitches and immaculate facilities. We were given a key to the “secret door” which leads directly into the Chatsworth house estate from the walled garden site.

Our first afternoon we wandered round the estate, admiring the various sculptures and doing a bit of deer stalking. We saw small herds of red deer and fallow deer, who didn’t seem bothered by the humans trailing them. Although the sculptures were interesting, I was much more intrigued by the oak trees whose trunks were hollowed out, by what I don’t know. There was just the outer layer of growth and yet, the tree still supported living branches and foliage. They were quite remarkable.

Of course, we had to visit the house and gardens. I was looking forward to seeing the Gainsborough picture of the Duchess Georgiana as I’d read about it’s history when it was stolen by a notorious thief who kept it for 25 years before returning it to the art gallery he stole it from! Sadly, the picture was in storage but a very kind attendant took us along a roped off corridor to see the Maria Cosway picture. Quite why that one wasn’t available to the general public to view we didn’t know, but we were very privileged to see it.

We climbed the Belvedere tower with a guide, the views from the top are lovely. We got to see the theatre which was formerly a ballroom, where apparently Queen Victoria attended events. How the other half lived! There would be an orchestra in the ball room and the gents would ascend to the roofed area to enjoy a cigar and perhaps a secret assignation. There’s also a plunge pool in the basement, who knows what went on there! It may be open to the public at some time in the future.

We went for a walk after dinner one evening and to our delight the deer had come down from the hillside and were grazing just outside the campsite. They didn’t seem bothered by our proximity. It was funny to see them leaping the fence into the cricket ground to graze on the lush grass there, which explained all the droppings over the cricket pitch!

Feeling well rested and having enjoyed some lovely walks we were ready for Torchlight!