During my first weekend in England I decided to pop up north to visit my fellow au pair friend Bianca at her family home near Chesterfield. Anneliese was also on this side of the Channel (or La Manche, the sleeve, as they say in French, as it is not the English’s) so together we took the two hour train voyage up north when the accents are closer to Scottish than the London English accent.
We arrived late that night and promptly went to sleep. The next morning we went into Chesterfield for a quick look around before catching the local bus, filled with grannies who got on for free, to Chatsworth House for a picnic and a poke around, a mansion owned by the Duke of Devonshire that was featured in such films as the 2004 Pride and Prejudice as Mr Darcy’s house and The Duchess. It was incredibly beautiful, both the interiors of the house and the lush countryside.
They are not really ones for minimalism, if you’ve got it, flaunt it I suppose…..
That evening Bianca took us out with some of her friend to get the real ‘Ches’vegas experience, to go ‘chav’ spotting. Chavs, for those, like me initally, who have no idea about these unique people are like the English view of bogans. During the day they are dressed in sports outfits, trackys and all, fake Burberry scarves and lots of bling, with nearly incomprehensible accents. At night is when there true colours are shown, well the less material, the better.
When entering one bar I gave the bouncer my Victorian learner’s permit as ID as he looked at it, scrunched his nose and replied in his thick Northern accent ‘I don’t know was this is.’ I explained that I was Australian. He looked at me then slowly replied ‘You’re a bit far north aren’t you.’ Apparently they don’t get many ‘foreigners’ up this way. It was definitely an interesting night. I have never seen more bald, middle age men in nightclubs before. I even spotted a tiny little 70 year old women in the corner drinking a cocktail. Our search for chavs was also a success, with you wondering with some girls if they have a face with that foundation. Their clothing often left very little to the imagination. A truly enlightening authentic English experience I thought.
The next morning we continued our mansion hopping weekend and went up to Hardwicke Hall, a medieval castle/mansion onced lived in by Bess of Hardwicke amongst others. Beforehand however we decided to have a good English lunch at the Hardwicke Inn, a big English pub that Bianca works at.
After a hardy English dinner off we toddled up the hill. It was a interesting place. It wasn’t so much about the history of the place, rather it showed the work required to maintain a house of this importance such as how they preserve all the incredible tapestries etc. The age of a tapestery can be told merely by looking at the colours evident as blues take longer to fade we were told.
the beautiful country walk back to Bianca’s village Doe Lea, so very Beatrix Potter
Anneliese and I in Nottingham, a quick stop on the way home, yep, we’re in Robin’s hood
