Chatsworth Summer of Secrets and Surprises
Naked picnickers; beer pipes; a grotto built by Duchess Georgiana; Lucian Freud’s paints; a telephone from Alexander Graham Bell and a personal weighing chair used to record the weights of the 6th Duke’s visitors are among the Secrets and Surprises Chatsworth is giving up this summer.
Visitors will have the opportunity to unearth some of the more unusual stories surrounding the house and garden as well as being asked to solve some mysteries themselves from 1 June to 31 August. Visitors will also be able to ask any staff wearing a question mark badge to reveal their own secret or surprise to find out more about the Palace of the Peak as well as reading about some of the favourite discoveries made by the Duke and Duchess over the last year.
One room guide will reveal how Father Christmas arrives in the Painted Hall for the annual Christmas party while another tells how her father, chauffeur to the 11th Duke of Devonshire for many years, drove John F Kennedy, President of the United States of America, from Chatsworth to the grave of his sister at Edensor.
A stroll round the 105-acre garden will uncover 10 secrets or surprises including a first peek into the Grotto built by the infamous Duchess Georgiana, wife of the 5th Duke of Devonshire. The inside is lined with crystals of copper ore that were discovered in a local mine. Behind the Grotto is another secret - a stove the purpose of which presents a puzzle but could have been used to make tea for one of the Dukes or Duchesses as they wandered around enjoying the beautiful garden.
Four naked picnickers are captured in a remarkable metal screen made by the sculpture Allen Jones, on view to visitors for the first time, and elsewhere, visitors can see the Mummy Peas in the Kitchen Garden that are descendants of seeds found mummified in the Pyramids or try to spot the tiny smiling face carved in the stone in the Rock Garden.
In the House, 11 different objects, many brought out specially for this summer, are sited around the visitor route to provide some fascinating insights. These include a telephone presented by the inventor Alexander Graham Bell to the 9th Duke of Devonshire in the early 20th century, including the diary entries made by the Duke recording the occasion. “Civic luncheon. Terribly long and I was dreadfully wakened by the Mayor. He is old and dotty and very tiresome. Afraid I spoke badly.”
Or try to work out why the 19th century 6th Duke decided to record the weight of all his visitors using a mahogany personal weighing chair. Even the most important visitors seem to have agreed to this curious practice. The first name recorded in the weighing book is that of the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, later Tsar Nicholas 1.
Visitors to the Green Satin Room can find out about the fascinating family history of Head Housekeeper Christine Robinson which spans 300 years. Christine remembers, “My grandmother said legend has it that when Sam’s wife Hannah was pregnant, it was a difficult labour and Sam set off on horseback to fetch the doctor from Baslow. He met the devil at the coal gate at the blue doors entrance into Chatsworth park, and said that he would sell him his soul if he would give him a son. A son was born, but he never made anything of himself, turned to drink, and ended his life without a farthing to his name. When old Sam Grafton died in 1866 he was buried in Beeley churchyard, and to this day no grass will grow on his grave.”
In the same room is a panel used to blank off a window in the 1830s, just removed as part of the current masterplan, revealing a series of mason’s drawings from the building work of that period.
Even the catering team is taking part. Visitors to the Cavendish Rooms will discover a secret ingredient added to the afternoon tea.
No extra charge beyond the normal admission fees.