Chatsworth lets the dog into the garden, which most great houses do not, and surrounds itself with a park, a river and a ring of gritstone edges. Here is a day that uses all of it and leaves the dog in the car for none of it.
9.30: park in Baslow
Nether End car park (pay and display) in Baslow, or the free roadside spaces if you are early. From the kissing gate beside the tea room the surfaced path runs 1.5 miles through the north park to the house: flat, on a lead, sheep and usually deer in view. It is the Baslow to Chatsworth walk, and it beats the car park queue.
10.30: the garden on a lead
If you have booked a garden ticket, the dog comes too. The loop from the south lawn up the Cascade, across to the Emperor Fountain and back through the Rock Garden is about two hours at a dog’s pace with a lot of stopping. The Cascade is not for paddling and the ponds are ornamental. The house, farmyard and playground are off limits, so if someone in the party wants the house, this is the point to split up: one goes in, one takes the dog down to the river.
12.30: lunch
The stables courtyard cafes have outdoor tables. For a proper pub lunch the choice is Baslow (walk back the way you came), or drive round to Beeley or Pilsley, both estate villages with an estate pub. The pubs near Chatsworth page marks the ones that record a dog-friendly policy on OpenStreetMap, but ring first: policies change and Sunday lunch is a different matter from a Tuesday.
14.00: the edges
Drive up to Curbar Gap car park above Baslow. Baslow Edge and Curbar Edge is an hour and a half on open access land with the whole of Chatsworth park spread out below; a reliable dog can be off the lead here, except near the Highland cattle that graze Baslow Edge. If the wind is up, Birchen Edge from the Robin Hood pub car park is shorter and lower.
The rules, briefly
Leads everywhere on the estate; the park and farms are grazed and lambing runs from March to May. No swimming or boats on the Derwent. No dogs in the house, farmyard or playground. The same applies at Christmas, when dogs on leads can do the garden light trail. The dogs guide has the detail.