The Road Goes Ever On

Friday, June 3, 2022

Chatsworth House, 2022

We visited Chatsworth in 2009 and 2013, and came away thinking of it as our favorite house and garden combination. The estate has been with the Cavendish family for many generations, has much great art, and the interiors, furniture and furnishings are all real, not a collection of "period" pieces on display. The long and distinguished history of the place is well conveyed. It can be a superb visit. And no other garden has the pedigree of designers that Chatsworth has: Grillet (Versailles), Capability Brown (many great British landscapes), and Joseph Paxton (Crystal Palace) among others.

Our visit to Chatsworth this year was different. The current duke and duchess are connoisseurs and supporters of contemporary art (good on 'em), and have revised the tour to display some of their contemporary collection. This has come (not so good on 'em) at the expense of Chatsworth's older and more distinguished collections, many of which have been relegated, obscured, or even removed from view. Thus, if you want to see Chatsworth here, have a look at the previous posts:

https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2009/10/chatsworth-house.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2009/10/chatsworth-gardens.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/08/chatsworth-house-2013.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/08/chatsworth-gardens-2013.html.

In the pix that follow some of the older collection is visible, as is some of the contemporary collection. Some of the contemporary collection is interesting, even striking. But it is not what one comes to Chatsworth to see. Alas, it seemed more like an exercise in cognitive dissonance than a tour of an historic great house.

You have been warned...

Cute

A hall-long wall of an art work called North Sketch Sequence,
consisting largely of a representation of the Duke's and Duchess'
"DNA portraits" as well as those of their son and daughter-
in-law, Lord and Lady Burlington; bring back the death taxes,
some would say...

At least the library appeared undisturbed

Contemporary sculpture

Formal dining, where then-princess Victoria had her first dinner
with the grown-ups; note the new chairs

In the impressive sculpture hall, Canova's Endymion
at least gets to sleep through it all

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Breadsall Priory

Our next stop, after beautiful Wales, was Breadsall Priory, in Derbyshire, back in England. Don't bother to look up Breadsall Priory on your National Trust or English Heritage maps. It's a Marriott hotel and golf resort. We had a few free Marriott nights soon expiring, and Breadsall Priory was close enough to serve as a base for our visit to Chatsworth house and garden. Breadsall really was a priory way back before the Dissolution; it passed on into private hands, got rebuilt, sold, added onto, sold, renovated, rinse, repeat, etc., for 500 years. The Darwin family actually were among its owners a couple generations before Charles. Precious little remains of the actual Priory. In our times, the owners got the idea of sprucing up the main house--now reception, offices, bar and restaurant, meeting rooms--and adding on a new building or two for sleeping rooms, the pool, and such. Several more buildings servicing the golf resort were added. At some point Marriott became part of the deal, and so you now have a 13th century Priory/hotel/and two full golf courses complex. Marriott touts it as its oldest property, and I would say it's the second most interesting Marriott property I have been in, after the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta. But that's another story. Breadsall Priory's landscaping is impressive, in any case, and it would fit comfortably into any of the great gardens we've seen these past few weeks.