My Birthday at Chatsworth

Chatsworth is set in the beautiful Derwent valley ...
... and on the days we visited the autumnal scene could not be bettered. A lackey told us that this weather was very unseasonal for October/November - it should have been misty, drizzling and colder.
The installation art show was being taken down, so we were very lucky to be able to view two pieces by Nadim Karam, the Senegalese architect.
We went into the maze ... jokingly quoting Three Men in a Boat ... and were almost immediately completely lost. "Keep turning left" really doesn't work.
Gracing Paxton's rock garden is the second piece by Nadim. The rock garden is now just a part of horticultural history and proves they didn't always get it right or do it better in the past. A vast tonnage of local rock was piled up to resemble the Alps! However, little attention was paid to providing the appropriate eco-system for the alpine plants. All the gardener really needs to do is provide exceptionally fast drainage on a south or west facing slope in full sun. Most of that should be easy at Chatsworth, except for the enormous forest trees that over-shadow Paxton's rock garden. Note, these do not grow in the Alps at that altitude. Sunshine is imperative.

An example of the beautiful beeches in the park.
The cascade is supplied with water from local reservoirs above the park, as are all the other water features. The cascade is by a French water engineer.

The new kitchen garden was being prepared for winter. This kale looks excellent. The fruit had all been gathered from the orchard and the correctly pruned, trained top-fruit.

The original greenhouses were of course the work of Paxton for which he became immensely famous - remember Crystal Palace? There's a whole story on the supply of coal for the boilers to heat his greenhouses. The thing was, visitors should not be able to see how the heat was produced.

As the afternoon failed, the sunlight was super-saturating the colours ...

... giving us strong silhouettes ...

... and turned the colour of the local stone of the stables into a golden Cotswold.

The stables are as impressively luxurious as the big house. They cared for the horses rather as racing cars prolly are today, by people who can afford to have several at home.