Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire UK

Recently I visited a magnificent old country manor; Hardwick Hall. Location address: Doe Lea, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S44 5QJ

Hardwick Hall is set in the English countryside in Derbyshire and was built during the Elizabethan period. It is surrounded by acres upon acres of land and some of the views are stunning, even on cloudy days like these.

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The house itself boasts a number of farm animals, which roam freely on the land. As you drive towards the stately home, you are sometimes greeted by the odd sheep who stands in the middle of the road and takes a good look at you before decided if you are worthy of passing into their beautiful grounds.

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This 16th century mansion is beautifully maintained by the National Trust. You can access the grounds, gardens and the house for free if you are a National Trust member. If not, you can still visit, but you do have to pay to gain entry.

Fun Fact: Hardwick Hall has more glass than stone in its structure!

The inside of the Mansion has not been changed since the lady of the manor was in residence, so you get a real feel for how they lived. Huge fireplaces dominate every room and you can imagine just how cold it would get as the rooms are enormous! It would have been so hard to keep the building warm during the winter. The fireplace below was probably the smallest one in the house and was placed in the entry way to the building to welcome visitors no doubt.

(The photos inside the house may be a little grainy as we were not allowed to use camera flash)

The furniture in the building has a luxurious feel to it. You can tell they were proud of their wealth and liked to show it off with the pieces they had custom made for the hall.

The walls are laden with tapestries in every room, from floor to ceiling. I can only assume this was to help keep the rooms heated. The intricate detail on each tapestry is amazing. I cannot even imagine the hours it must have taken to produce these works of art!

The bedrooms are just as lavish as the main rooms, with no expense spared on furniture. In fact, they are pieces of art in themselves! I do worry for these items as the ceilings don’t look all that good to me…

The Grand Piano is something of a marvel. Beethoven himself saw this piano and demanded that a replica was made for his own private collection. The one he used is almost identical to this, except for a tiny name stamp inside the instrument.

The original here has an oval stamp used by the designers, but they would not allow Beethoven to have the oval stamp. He had to have the more common rectangular name stamp instead! I am pretty sure he would have been a little annoyed by this. If only they had known how famous he would become…

Once again, apologies for some of the images being rather grainy, but the use of a camera flash is not permitted inside the house, for the protection of the historical pieces.

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