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Chatsworth Ideas

Jane Austen fans

A Pride and Prejudice day at Chatsworth

Where to stand for the Pemberley scenes from the 2005 film, the Sculpture Gallery bust, the west front across the river, Georgiana's rooms from The Duchess, and Haddon Hall for the 2013 sequel.

  • House open season, late March to early January

Austen sends Elizabeth Bennet to Chatsworth on her Derbyshire tour a few pages before she reaches Pemberley, and two centuries of readers have refused to believe the two houses are different. The 2005 film settled it by shooting here. This is a day built around the shots.

The approach: Calton Lees to the west front

Elizabeth’s first sight of Pemberley in the film is the house across water. That is the west front seen from the park across the Derwent, and the way to see it is on foot from Calton Lees car park: a mile along the river, the house appearing above the bridge. Do it first, in the morning, with the sun behind you.

The house: three rooms

  • The Painted Hall is the first great room on the route and the one the film uses for Elizabeth’s arrival.
  • The Sculpture Gallery, near the end of the route, is where she walks among the marbles and finds the bust of Darcy. The Macfadyen bust made for the film was displayed here for years; ask whether it is out.
  • Georgiana’s Chatsworth: the 2008 film The Duchess was shot in the house Georgiana Spencer actually lived in as the 5th Duke’s wife. Her portrait and the state rooms are on the route.

Allow the full ninety minutes and take the audio guide, which points out the film locations without you having to ask.

Lunch: Edensor

The estate village is a twenty-minute walk across the park. Tea room, church with the Cavendish tombs, and the grave of Kathleen Kennedy, who married the heir to Chatsworth in 1944 and is buried here; her brother the president visited in 1963.

Afternoon: Haddon Hall

Six miles away by Bakewell, Haddon is the medieval house the BBC used for Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), the P. D. James sequel, and for the 2006 Jane Eyre. It is smaller, older and, on a summer afternoon, a good deal quieter than Chatsworth. Details on the Haddon Hall page.

Filming rules

Personal photography is fine in the house and garden; tripods, flash, selfie sticks and wearable cameras are not, and drones are banned across the estate. Wedding-dress photography is only possible through the estate’s own packages. The full list of productions is on the film and TV page.

Questions people ask

Was Pride and Prejudice filmed at Chatsworth?

The 2005 film with Keira Knightley used Chatsworth as Pemberley: the Sculpture Gallery, the Painted Hall and the exterior across the river. The 1995 BBC series used Lyme Park in Cheshire. Death Comes to Pemberley (2013) came back to Chatsworth.

Can you see the Mr Darcy bust at Chatsworth?

The bust of Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy made for the film was on display in the Sculpture Gallery for many years; the estate rotates what is shown, so ask at the entrance whether it is out.

Mentioned on this page

Sources