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Haddon Hall, United Kingdom © Reproduced with the kind permission of Haddon Hall

Tissington, Derbyshire, United Kingdom © Robert Harding Video

Chatsworth House, United Kingdom © Courtesy of Chatsworth House Trust

Haddon Hall, United Kingdom © Reproduced with the kind permission of Haddon Hall

View of Chatsworth House, engraving

Walking to Derbyshire Houses - Magnificent countryside and great country houses

Overview Practicalities Testimonials

Section:

Tour highlights

Daily walks over hills, dales and landscaped parks followed by visits to country houses.
A mixture of grand stately homes and smaller mansions: Kedleston, Haddon, Tissington, Chatsworth, and Hardwick.
Stay throughout in a comfortable hotel on the Chatsworth Estate.

One of the joys of a walk in the English countryside is glimpsing a great house in the distance. At first just dimly perceived chimneys and roofs, the rest screened by trees, but as the walk continues more is revealed, and beauty beckons. But after further progress along the path, foliage and land mass reassert themselves and the mansion passes from sight.

Unless the house is the goal of the walk. Then it continues to grow in size, in detail, in magnificence, until one is examining it from the front lawn. Maybe next one mounts the steps and passes over the threshold; or peels away for refreshments or lunch – on this tour the more frequent course, given that arrival follows a country walk of an hour or two, or three.

This tour includes some of the greatest houses in the country, outstanding representatives of their period, laden with treasures – Haddon, Hardwick, Chatsworth, and Kedleston. Tissington also features, for contrast but also for its intrinsic delight.

Famously, the Peak District offers wonderful walking country, and all but one of our walks are within the boundaries of this, the oldest National Park in Britain. Most consists of rumpled hills and their covering of little green fields, dry stone walls, deciduous trees and a dense population of cattle and sheep. There are only occasional hints of moorland.

Practicalities

Two sharing: £3,390. Single occupancy: £3,990.

Hotel accommodation; private coach throughout; breakfasts, 2 lunches and 4 dinners with wine, water, coffee; admission to houses and gardens; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

The Cavendish Hote l, Baslow: located on the Chatsworth Estate, it has been an inn for centuries. All bedrooms have good views and elegant décor with original artwork. (4-stars.) Single rooms are doubles for sole use.

This is a walking tour, graded easy. There are 9 walks of which 5 are easy (1 is optional) and around an hour in length, 2 are moderate and 1 is challenging. A feature of the Peak District are the squeeze stiles – gaps in drystone walls too narrow for livestock. Some step stiles require walkers to raise the foot as high as their knee. It is essential for participants to have appropriate walking footwear, be in good physical condition and to be used to country walking with uphill and downhill content. Average distance by coach per day: 47 miles.

Are you fit enough to join the tour?

Between 10 and 22 participants.

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