crckwc1
Yes, I'll post my experience. I'd contact the BandB soon; Sept. may have more available spots then July, but I made reservations the first of January and already had my options limited.

Also to prepare for Chatsworth, if you contact Chesterfield tourism board and/or Chatsworth official site, they will send you stuff--they even sent me local bus schedule links. (Course, if you're planning on driving, that's unnecessary info).

crckwc1, you might enjoy our pictures from Chatsworth, which we visited last May.

http://tinyurl.com/25xs9t

Lee Ann

Elendilpickle

Thanks for the pics link! I think we're of the same literary mind--Lewis, Tolkein, Peters, and Austin--dictating in a way our destinations! As weird as it may sound to some posters, we're going to try to make LONG day trips on our trip just so we can make it to Shrewbury Abbey, Chatsworth, and a LONG day in Oxford (or 2 if we can't fit it all in--gotta do the Ins. Morse stuff a little bit, too!)

Bear in mind that early trains (which means anything before 9.30/10 a.m) will be substantially more expensive.

Aust<b><u><font color="red">e</font></u></b>n . . . . .

Woops--my Texas (as in capital of)typing fingers took over from my English teacher ones!

And we plan to have a railpass which won't limit us on times, so we'll be catching early ones!

You're going to have a great time! I'd love to spend more time in England. One of these days...

Lee Ann

Lee Ann, Thanks for the great pictures! I can hardly wait!

texasbookworm - Thanks again for the B&amp;B link and info on Chesterfield tourist office. I'll contact them for area information although we won't need transportation schedules since DH is doing the driving. We're driving in from Scotland so will be approaching from the opposite direction and will spend the end of our trip in London -- maybe at your recommended B&amp;B. We'll see.

soogies, Chatsworth is nice but my point was just that if there wasn't a special resaon for it, there are equally nice good or better stately homes nearer London. Now I understand that the OP wants to see Chatsworth particularly because some bits of the most recent 'Pride &amp; Prejudice' film were shot there.

tbw - do you know about the other sites used for the film ? http://www.chatsworth.org/news/news_...;prejudice.htm

Well to be factual I'm not interested in Chatsworth because of any filming done there but because experts agree that it was a definite direct inspiration for Jane Austen's Pemberley. Plus as I mentioned above, I have become very interested in Joseph and Sarah Paxton--he was head gardener among other things at Chatsworth in early-mid 1800's and they have a nice love story and fascinating relationship that I want to explore more. It's cool that when I look at film, if I've been to a place, I can say, Ohh, I've BEEN there, but the real historical and literary connections are what drive my decisions, not film.

bookmarking

An organised day trip is advertised here:
http://www.london-tours.demon.co.uk/...house_tour.htm

Yes, I had found this site back in January, but this tour is no longer operating, or if so you can't make a reservation for this year--so we're still planning on the adventure of train and bus by ourselves!

Best wishes to you on the journey to Chatsworth (and the rest of your trip). I'm especially interested in how it goes as we'll be targeting this site ourselves next summer. Happy Travels!

I promise to share here upon return; our plans would be much different and probably much sketchier and probably more expensive without the help from this forum, so I will post a most grateful TR in early August! (Two months from today we board in London to RETURN. My excitement builds, now that school's out, plans are pretty set, and it's just the waiting (which is the hardest part. YEAH!

I can just imagine how excited you are, just days away from departing! Can't wait to read your report when you get back!