The room was warm and cosy leading to a lovely relaxing night’s sleep.

I packed my bags which I hadn’t been able to do the night before because of my clothes that were wet due to the Bolsover deluge. However, my fleece was still quite damp and not suitable for wearing or packing.

We checked out of the Premier Inn and drove to the Chatsworth Farm Shop Café at Pilsley for breakfast. The traditional breakfast options are big and hearty so I opted for a lighter breakfast, an almond croissant which was also enormous.

After our delicious breakfast we arrived at Chatsworth in plenty of time (despite the queue for the car park) for our 11.30 house time slot.

We reacquainted ourselves with the house and enjoyed the new exhibitions. Because of our late breakfast we decided to explore the grounds before having lunch. We enjoyed exploring the wider grounds which we have not been able to do before due to limited time available during a day trip.

We had a late lunch, sharing an egg roll, before browsing the shop where I couldn’t resist purchasing 111 Dark Places in England which Mr C had noticed in the smaller shop as we exited the house. Another lady had been captivated by the book and was chuckling with us about ‘a bucket list’ of things to do. Mr C & I had noticed that we had already visited a significant number of places on the list. I suppose that is what happens when you are interested in history.

We had a leisurely drive home, although our Satnav chose a less scenic route home than it had done for our journey to Bolsover Castle. Back home we unpacked before enjoying a lovely pork chop roast dinner.