Chatsworth House

[Blownupdolly]

It's my 50th birthday in March and shortly afterwards I am due to get my disability car from the Motability scheme.
I have always wanted to go see Chatsworth House so we are planning to spend a few days up there to celebrate my half century. I was wondering if anyone who knows there area can recommend other places to visit bearing in mind it would need to be accessible for a wheelchair. I have never been up that way before so totally clueless.

[Ratfinkz]

If I'm right in thinking Chatsworth house is in Derbyshire I'd recommend you have a walk (wheel) around a little town called matlock bath. Not sure when the illuminations are but if it's around the same time even better!!!

If I'm right in thinking it's in Derbyshire I'll ask a good friend of mine who lives there and is also in a wheelchair

[izan]

FYI: The house is currently closed for annual conservation and will reopen on 10 March 2013.
I

[Blownupdolly]

Thanks Sarah
I will do a search when I have refuelled myself with caffeine. I also have to make sure the places we visit are not too hilly as Mr Dolly has arthritis in his knees and i feel bad if he has to push me up hills. I am hoping to get a powered one soon which will help. I am getting measured up for one at my docs surgery but like all things NHS it will probably take ages to get sorted.

I have been watching that TV programme about Chatsworth on Sunday afternoons. Very interesting and showed how they did renovations to it and the day to day running of the place. Such a stunningly beautiful place.

[Blownupdolly]

Thanks Izan, but we wont be going until at least April May time.

[Deleted]

Chatsworth had a few buggies that could be booked for going around the gardens, so worth a call to see. Alternatively, as you're making a mini break of it, if you haven't got your chair by then, why don't you enquire about renting a powerchair to take with you, there must be a disability shop in your area that does that.

[lynwlt]

I visited Chatsworth a couple of years ago and found it very expensive and actually quite boring, mostly because much of it can't be viewed by the public.

We visited an little Elizabethan manor house that was quite close by and that was completely enchanting, not a monument to enormous wealth and aggressive marketing.

You'll see the best of Chatsworth via the tv, then just drive past it and get the true impression of it's size, then move on somewhere else.

It's a beautiful part of the country but it's pretty hilly (Peak District gives a clue)

Matlock was pretty, and fairly flat. Bakewell is interesting.

I'm sure you'll have a great time.

[scaffman69]

Haddon hall just past bakewell is another really big statelky home like chatsworth house but dont get mentioned much, also bakewell is a beautifull maket town, iff yopu go to castleton and hope , but plenty to do in all these places and iff liking cxounty side yu wont get better, beautifull, theirs lots of small villages of intrest , look for eyan it known as the plague village that leyt it spread.

[jeanie]

Some lovely places to visit around Derbyshire and the Peak District, although some might prove a little difficult for you and your husband to get around. Have a look at this site for some ideas www.derbyshireuk.net/derbyshire_attractions.html

[Blownupdolly]

Thanks for all the replies.
I will have a look at that link Jeanie.
I was aware that the area is hilly. Might have second thoughts about it now. Not for my sake but Mr Dolly.
Lyn, did you visit when they had areas shut off for the renovations, or is it like that all the time? Wouldn't want to go if theres little to see.

[vicuk]

only thing DONT BUY a bakewell tart shop you'll not like it eveybody buys one but i have not found anyone who like them but thats the only thing you'll not like matlock bath is very nice i would say Derbyshire is nice NOT AS NICE AS YORKSHIRE but ok all the best vic from yorkshire

[lynwlt]

Bakewell tarts did look fairly disgusting, nothing like Mr Kipling's.....

No, there was no restoration going on when I visited, but it just seemed to me, given how huge the house is, that very little of it was open to the public, and it was very much an organised route through the house.
I left there feeling it was a monument to obscene wealth!

Haddon Hall was the complete opposite; simple and unpretentious and completely disarming. Very wheelchair unfriendly tho', but it is Elizabethan so they are restricted about what alterations they can make.

I don't think I'd go back to Derbyshire to be honest.
I got fairly pissed off driving along all those windy uphill/downhill roads....

[Blownupdolly]

Thanks for that Lyn.
I did drive through Bakewell many years ago. Can't remember where i was on my way to, but yes, i did buy a bakewell tart and wasn't impressed.

I will do more research on where to go for my little break. Still not writing it off, but I do want something interesting alongside a nice restaurant for dinner and stunning scenery thrown in.

[FFgirl]

Can you hire a powerchair when you get there BUD?

[Blownupdolly]

I guess i might be able to Kelfen. When I finally decide what we are doing I could ring round local disability shops and see whats on offer. Although, now I think about it could be better to hire it from near home so i can return when the journey is over as i am sure we will need to have several stop offs on the way back.