Chatsworth House

Saturday
Today we drove over to my brother and sister-in-laws for the weekend - in Dore, on the south-western edge of Sheffield. And yes, it was another wet day! We arrived in time for coffee, and were soon joined by our nephew Ian. We had a lovely lunch at a nice pub out in the Derbyshire countryside, then Peter and Judy suggested we went to have a look at Chatsworth House, recently re-opened after its major renovation, cleaning, repairing and restoring the masonry and restoring the gold leaf detailing around the windows after 300 years of weathering and pollution. The restoration work is still taking place on some parts of the house, but the South and West fronts are now complete, and looked quite splendid, even in the grey gloomy weather. It's worth viewing in large to see the detail more clearly! Having grown up in Sheffield, we have all visited Chatsworth at least once, most of us several times, and it is rather expensive these days, so we made do with viewing it over the wall from the park. As we walked along the wall, we were surprised to come across three giant hand-crocheted lions in a custom-built mobile glass case. I took my own picture, but with all the raindrops on the case you couldn't see the lions very clearly, so I thought the website gave you a better impression. It turns out it was the lionheart project, part of London 2012's Cultural Olympiad challenge to artists across the UK to submit ideas celebrating their region. The Lionheart project celebrates the rich textile heritage of the East Midlands. Shauna Richardson crocheted 36 miles (!) of yarn, using a 10mm hook and the wool from 150 Derbyshire Dales sheep to create an impersonation of the three lions royal crest! The lions were traveling around several places in the Midlands, before arriving at the Natural History Museum in London in time for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Roger, Peter, Ian and I went for a slightly longer walk in the rain, whilst Jen and Judy retired to the car! Then it was back to their house for a nice hot cup of tea, and later Judy prepared us a delicious roast dinner!