Chatsworth House

We return to England with the gardens at Chatsworth House, perhaps the grandest example of a landscape garden in England, no flowers but plenty of interesting landscape features.  One of the largest and grandest of English estates, the house and gardens are over 400 years old, and have been in the hands of the Cavendish family ever since, a family ruled over by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

Chatsworth House gardens have been built and rebuilt over the centuries.  At one time the gardens featured a very formal layout, not unlike those at Versailles.  But Capability Brown, a uniquely English personality came along with his rebellion against formal gardens and swept it all away.

The formal gardens were replaced by acres of lawns, with a focus on fountains as well, though many statues, like this one, were retained.

The most celebrated water feature is not a fountain, but a cascade, a long set of stairs down which water runs in an extensive set of tiny waterfalls.

It's a popular feature as you can see, though they do try to keep the kids out of the actual cascade.  When we were there they turned the water on at 1 pm and the crowds were already gathered.

The other big water feature is the Emperor Fountain, one of the highest jets of water in any fountain run by natural water pressure.  It is fed by water from a large lake dug on top of the moors.

The rock garden is one of the other interesting features, built not from small rocks, but from large boulders!

At one time an enormous glass house was a popular feature, but it was heated by coal and during WWII no coal was available for such purposes, so it was torn down.  It has been replaced by a maze.

I just loved the wavy pattern of this hedge.

The 2.5 acre kitchen gardens are a much more recent feature, laid out by the inspired Duchess in 1991.  They include of course an extensive area of cutting flowers, destined for bouquets in the house.  In this way flowers have returned to the gardens at Chatsworth after nearly 300 years.