Happy 14th Birthday to Joshua! 

The kids did some school work this-morning and we got our things a little more organized here at Uncle Mick and Aunt Marian's. Then in the late morning we went out to see Chatsworth House. It was raining when we left, so that's what Josh chose to do for his birthday, instead of going hiking. The drive to Chatsworth is absolutely beautiful! It's in the "Peak District". Rolling hills and quaint old little villages all along the way. We loved it! 

Chatsworth House has been handed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family!!! Wow! That's a lot of years in one place for one family line! The estate is made up of 35.000 acres! Good golly! It was given to a trust in the 1950s to save it from the exorbitant government taxes. So the family still lives in part of the estate, but they rent the part that they live in from the trust. 

This is the place where the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice" was filmed, for the scenes of Mr. Darcy's Pemberley Estate. You may recognize the outside of it, and the Hall of Statues from the movie. :)

An English snack before going in the house. Meat pastries and sandwiches. 

Chatsworth boasts ownership of over 3,000 pieces of art, which is 2nd only in the UK to Buckingham Palace! And as you can see, many of the ceilings in the house are also intricately painted.

The entrance hall.

A tapestry of the resurrected Jesus Christ and his disciples.

No, Janae's not on her phone, she listening to the audio tour :)

This is a Rembrandt. It's of King Uzziah, from the Bible, after he foolishly chose to attempt to burn incense in the temple, which was only permitted by the priest. He was struck with leprosy by God. This painting shows his cheeks starting to be affected by the leprosy, and notice his left hand is hidden by his right hand, insinuating that the fingers on his left hand are also affected. The tour guide who told us about the painting said she estimates that this painting is worth around 50 million pounds!

One thing about this house is that they have modern pieces of art mixed amongst the old. Not my favorite.

But this one's kind of fun.

The library

And the Hall of Statues (seen in "Pride and Prejudice")

Self-explanatory.... :)

Wonderful gardens

And then we had a delicious dinner with extended family, for Joshua's birthday. We were joined tonight by Dave's cousin Peter and his family, Natalie, Zachary and Vincent, as well as Dave's 1st cousin-once-removed, Michael.

Trifle for dessert! YUM! :)

Happy with his English cash :)

And his English chocolate! Lucky birthday boy.