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The Peak District: Stately Homes and Regency Film Sites
3 days / 2 nights
These are three days packed with variety and interest in a region perhaps ignored by those not in on its secrets. There is a literary heritage along with charming market, mining & spa towns and country parish churches. Did we mention stately homes? Jane Austen found her “Pemberley” while on holiday here. If it's the movie connections you seek, then look no further, ‘Jane Eyre,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ ‘The Duchess,’ and ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ are all represented. The amazing stately homes where these were filmed – Chatsworth Estate, Haddon Hall, Lyme Hall - are very worthy attractions in their own right with lavish furnishings, sculptured formal gardens and rolling parklands, but as film sites too, what a fun twist on the usual ‘homes and gardens’ itinerary!
Add to these fine sites the incredible scenery of the Peaks, you’ll have a tour difficult to surpass. It's time you were in on the secret!
Tour Dates: Your choice! Any day of the week.
This tour begins and finishes in Manchester. You will be picked up from your hotel at approximately 09:00.
Cost: Depends upon the number of guests in your party.
What your tour package includes: The private services of your driver/guide for 3 touring days, your accommodation for 2 nights while on the tour including breakfast and dinner daily, all entrance fees to gardens and attractions, transportation, all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide.
Airport transfers, accommodation pre and post tour are not included but can be added to your package as you wish. Ask us for details.
Why not Link it? This tour ’links up’ with other short literary tours: Herriot Country: Yorkshire, Literary Lakes, Literary Heart of England and Dylan Thomas Trail tours and more. Create a holiday break to suit your schedule!
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
DAY ONE
Today, we depart the city of Manchester and enter the magnificent Peak District, touring through more magnificent Pennine Hills scenery. There are an amazing amount of stately homes in this area, many of which may seem quite familiar for fans of films & BBC TV as they are often used as sets, most famously recent productions of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘The Duchess’ among others.
Our few days in the area will include visits to the Duke of Devonshire's Stately Home at Chatsworth, said to have been Jane Austen’s inspiration for “Pemberley.” There’s also the more modest, although equally stunning Haddon Hall owned by the Duke of Rutland plus the Elizabethan gem Hardwick Hall. Each can claim a bit of cinematic magic and it is easy to see why!
In addition to the stately homes, over our time in the area we can wander the rural Derbyshire villages, the spa town of Buxton, favorite film location towns such as Bakewell and Longnor, and the 'blue john' mining town of Castleton, inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Terror of Blue John Gap’ and also Sir Walter Scott’s setting for his ‘Peveril of the Peak.’
Matlock, our night stop location, was a favorite vacation spot for William Wordsworth.
NIGHT STOP: Matlock
DAY TWO
Today we have a full but gentle day to explore the Peaks. Here, where the dry-stone walls make criss-cross patterns of the sheep covered hills, we will find ancient folk customs such as 'well-dressing' in addition to our exploration of the stately homes and treasure houses. Certainly to be another delightful day!
NIGHT STOP: Matlock
DAY THREE
Our final day in the Peaks will permit us to explore even more stunning sites. There’s Sudbury Hall near Ashbourne, a town with connections to both Dr Johnson (author of the very first dictionary) and George Eliot, who described the church as `the finest mere parish church in the entire kingdom.’ Nearby here, there are also connections to William Wordsworth along the River Dove and the town where DH Lawrence and his new German born bride hid out amid rumors of their being WWII spies!
Our grand finale, as we make our way back into Manchester, will be Lyme Hall. Here, we find the Palladian mansion surrounded by a medieval deer park of almost 1400 acres, an amazing formal garden and lavish interiors. Lyme Hall was used by the BBC for the hugely popular Colin Firth version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and fans may recognize the lake as well as the house itself.
NIGHT STOP: Manchester (not included in package but available for a supplemental fee.)
Please note: All attraction opening times are correct at time of printing this website.
While we will do our utmost to include all of the properties mentioned as central visits, we reserve the right to change an attraction should it become impossible to deliver a planned visit due to changes in opening days or times that we could not have been aware of at the time of loading this tour to our website.
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