Pemberley to Pemberley

This weekend we drove up to the Peak District for a weekend of touring - from Pemberley to Pemberley. For those of you not familiar with Pemberley (how do I know you??), it is the home of Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. The photo above is of Lyme Park, from the BBC's Pride & Prejudice (www.bbc.co.uk/drama/prideandprejudice); that below is of Chatsworth from the more recent film version of Pride & Prejudice(www.prideandprejudicemovie.net/splash.html).

We had a great time touring with Grandma Mary Ann & Auntie Jane - even though it was a tight fit in our car! We had to take turns sitting next to Princess Beatrice...she was ok in her car seat...most of the time. Unfortunately the car seat won't fit in the middle seat due to seat belt issues. Gone are the days where kids could just lounge in the backseat (or ride upside down pretending to be astronauts as I remember doing with my brother)...

On Saturday we drove up 3 hours to Lyme Park(www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lymepark), after a quick detour to Stoke-on-Trent and the Spode Factory Outlet. Beatrice enjoyed the tour of Lyme Park, if not the ride up. She particularly enjoyed all of the docents...they all had grey hair! And I had a great time looking at all of the scenes from P&P. I'm still amazed it didn't rain on us.

My Mr. Darcy...

Beatrice also enjoyed our hotel. Mary Ann and Jane babysat so Zack and I could go out for a long walk around the golf course and have drinks in the bar. Then it was room service and TV in bed - hooray! And Beatrice enjoyed her bed in the shower...

The next morning we took a long drive through the heart of the Peak District. Very pretty. (www.visitpeakdistrict.com)

In the afternoon we made it to Chatsworth House (www.chatsworth.org) - Mr Darcy's house from the most recent P&P. On the way Beatrice said "ba ba ba" in the car...wow. Equally 'wow' was the huge cascade of water in the gardens (and total lack of signs warning people to be careful...I love the non-litigious society here - note the small children playing in the cascade)

The Friday before we had a great time touring London with Mary Ann and Jane (poor Zack had to work). We went to the V&A after a very EARLY start to the day, though we did get to play Beatrice-doll dress up. But at the V&A Beatrice and I got to spend some fun time out in the courtyard, and we got to go the best bathroom in London...in my opinion at least. Seriously, the BEST BATHROOM.

Unfortunately B caught a little cold from the trip. Perhaps it was allergies (Z & I felt it a bit too), but now it is definitely a cold. So we had to rest this afternoon. And today Grandma Mary Ann (G-MA) had to go home. We saw her off mid-morning. But luckily Aunt Jane is here for another day!