It was a relief to extricate ourselves from the busy built-up sprawl of the West Midlands and finally get out into the rolling hills of the English countryside.

We drove north, enjoying the views over the Peak District countryside and making good time. We pulled into the Chatsworth Estate around lunchtime, with a stunning view of the house as we drove in. In case you don’t know, Chatsworth is a magnificent honey-coloured stately home in rural Derbyshire. You may recognise it from its role as Pemberley in the 2005 production of Pride and Prejudice.

We had bought house tour tickets in advance but they were for later in the day which gave us some time to explore the grounds. We wandered through the Victorian rock gardens and exotic plants, saw the famous Cascade (unfortunately dry due to maintenance works) and came upon the maze. One thing you should know about Rich is that he loves a good maze, and this was a proper hedge maze. When you get to the centre there’s a stone plinth that you can stand on with a victory pose to declare that you made it to the centre of the maze! Once you’ve found your way out again you can climb a set of steps for a nice view down over the maze.

We kept walking around the gardens and grounds and found the fountain and lake, where some of the classic Chatsworth photos are taken. You get a cracking view of the house and grounds from here. The slight incline also gave the kids the opportunity to practise their rolling down the hill skills with varying degrees of success. After this it was time to go inside the house.

Now don’t get me wrong, inside of the house was absolutely beautiful. Majestic, ornate, luxurious and dripping in historical wealth, it’s wonderful to walk around. I particularly liked the grandiose staircase and extravagant dining room. If I’d have been on my own I would have enjoyed slowly exploring these rooms and immersing myself in the history. However, the reality of travelling with young children is that I was really only able to concentrate on preventing the kids from destroying a priceless heirloom. Let’s just say it was while touring the house at Chatsworth that Theo earned the nickname “baby bull in a china shop”.

Chatsworth is still the family home of the Devonshire family, and lo and behold just as we were exiting the house we actually saw the Duke of Devonshire riding in a golf cart! We wouldn’t have known but for the excited whispers of the staff.

The house tour inevitably ended up in a gift shop, and the Chatsworth gift shop is truly a gift shop of the first calibre. With souvenirs, homewares, gardenwares, lotions, cookbooks and more, I could easily have spent hours in here if not for the baby bull in a china shop situation that we’ve already talked about. One thing I did pick up in this shop was my favourite book of the whole trip and the unwitting inspiration behind Tea Room Travels: The National Trust Book Of Scones.

The author of this book started with a blog and a dream to tour all the National Trust properties of England and have a scone in the tearoom of each one. Not only did she achieve this, but she then turned the blog into a book. A book that’s sold in the Chatsworth gift shop no less! Each page features a National Trust property with tidbits of interesting information about the property plus a relevant scone recipe. It was while sitting on a bench in the Chatsworth playground with magnificent views of the Derbyshire countryside in front of me and the kids playing happily in the playground that I started to read this Book Of Scones and decided I’d like a lifestyle change to do something like this please. National Trust if you’re reading, I’d very much like to write you part two of this Book Of Scones except let’s change it up and I’ll do cakes.

The book proudly sits on my bookshelf at home even now to remind me to keep going!

Speaking of cake, by this point we had earned a trip to the tearoom, our first tearoom of this trip. No other country in the world can do a tearoom like the English. they are such warm, homely and comforting places to be. The cakes were a little on the pricey side but were homemade and delicious. We had the Victoria sponge and the lemon drizzle cakes, the lemon drizzle being officially the best lemon drizzle cake I’ve ever had.

After our refreshments we hit the children’s play area and farm. The children can enter the playground through a secret tunnel which emerges into the playground. My kids thought this was the best thing they’d ever seen. The playground itself is full of adventures such as climbing towers, sand, water play and racing slides. It was a highlight for the kids (and for me, as I got to spend quality time with the aforementioned Book Of Scones). After the playground we wandered through the farm saying hello to the animals, and managed to just sneak in to the last “hold a guinea pig” session of the day. We also had a lovely chat with the staff member while the kids were holding the guinea pigs. Upon finding out that we lived in Australia she asked the inevitable question that we would get asked several more times on this trip: “how many spiders do you see every day?”. If you’re interested the answer is: surprisingly few.

As we were driving away from Chatsworth we were delighted to see a herd of deer running across the road right in front of us. Well I was delighted. The kids were too busy fighting in the back and nearly missed it.

Our hotel for the night was the Devonshire Arms at Baslow. Our first pub stay of the trip, and we picked a great one to start. The family suite was spacious with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and there’s an onsite restaurant. I reignited my love affair with the classic British pie and mash and after dinner we played cards in the bar while the kids made friends with all the dogs in the pub.

The next morning we had a good English breakfast in the pub and were ready for our next destination.

Oh how good it was to be back in England!

Coming up…Blackpool and the Lake District.

Previously…read part 6 here.

If you’re planning to visit Chatsworth read my full guide to how to spend your day here.