Chatsworth publishes exact hours through a date picker rather than a fixed table, because they change with the season and the events. This page gives you the shape of the year and tells you which parts of the estate you can count on.
The season
The house, garden, farmyard and adventure playground open in the second half of March and close in the first days of January. Inside the season, opening hours vary by date and are on the official calendar. As a rule of thumb the garden opens before the house and closes after it, and house entry is by timed slot, which you choose when you book. You can go into the garden before your house time.
The water features (the Cascade, the Emperor Fountain and the smaller fountains) play from 11am to 4.30pm in the open season, weather permitting; frost or high wind switches them off.
What is open all year
- The park and Stand Wood: open every day for walking, cycling and picnics, free.
- The farm shop and cafe at Pilsley, the garden centre at Calver, Chatsworth Kitchen at Rowsley and the estate pubs (the Devonshire Arms at Beeley and Pilsley, the Cavendish Hotel in Baslow, and the rest of the estate’s inns) trade year-round with their own hours.
- The estate shop and some restaurants at the house stay open outside the season on a reduced pattern.
Winter
From the end of the Christmas season in early January until late March the house, garden and farmyard are closed. That makes January and February the quietest months in the park, and the estate sometimes opens the farmyard or garden for February half-term: check the official events page rather than assuming. The month-by-month guide covers what each month is actually like.
Christmas
From early November the house switches to its Christmas dressing and timed entry with compulsory advance booking; the garden light trail runs after dark; and the market occupies the lawns for the first five weeks. See the Christmas at Chatsworth page for the 2026–27 dates and prices.
Planning the day
Allow at least an hour and a half for the house route, two hours for the garden, an hour for the farmyard with children, and an hour for a walk in the park. That is a full day; most people do the house in the morning slot, the garden after lunch and the park last, when the light is best and the crowds have thinned.