Lyme Park (otherwise knows as Pemberly)

So. . . I had a birthday early in August and I must say that one of my long-time wishes came true; on my birthday even! I have always wanted to go to the house where the BBC filmed the Pemberly scenes in their version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. And, guess what? Debbie and I went out there to see it in celebration of my birthday! Yahoo! We had lovely weather and everything! (It rained the day before and it rained the day after.) It doesn't get any better than that, really, except I would have enjoyed having some of my friends and family from home around to share it with me. Anyway, here are some of the pictures and I hope they make you want to come to England to visit. (By the way, the candle on my cake is a tea light candle and it wouldn't stay lit, so I actually got to blow out the lighter instead! Good memory, that.)

Do you Pride and Prejudice fans recognize this shot? I bet you do. Isn't it lovely! And look at the perfect weather and lighting for this picture. This one is a keeper and has just vaulted to the top of my favorite photographs from England. This is a view of Lyme Park house from across the lake.
This is the courtyard in the center of the house. All of you movie buffs should recognize those stairs as the ones Darcy races down in his hurry to catch Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle before they leave the grounds. Grrr....that lady in red got in my picture. I'll have to crop her out of it!
Here's a close up of the stairs. Sandra Kimberling, on the left, (wife of the Bishop of the York 1 ward and a good friend of mine) and Debbie Baldock, on the right, (my flatmate) are enjoying the moment up there. We did go in and see the house but weren't allowed to take any pictures in there. I did get to walk down the famous corridor that Darcy walks down while thinking of Elizabeth and we did see the room in which the group sits and listens to Elizabeth sing and play. The rest of the house has the feel of a glorified hunting lodge and has dark paneling all over the walls and is decorated with animal heads and things. I wasn't expecting that in a house like this.
Debbie and I are enjoying a rest after walking over the gardens and grounds. There's nothing like a little swing to give one's feet a rest! The grounds are huge; the gardens lovely. I could really enjoy a place with these kinds of amenities!
Here I am on the other side of the lake. There are lovely wooded walks all around here and we really did spend the entire day here exploring.
This shot should also be familiar to P & P buffs. This is the Italian garden and it's on a level below the rest of the gardens and the house. We were kind of cheeky tourists because to get this picture we had to climb over a little rope with a sign that said 'gardeners only' on it. But, we did stay out of the garden itself, walked carefully along the edge, and were only there for about 1 minute to get a nice picture. I didn't want to regret not getting this picture since it's such a lovely angle.
Here is the Italian garden from up above on the level of the house. Nice, ey?
This is a view of the house and the 'orangery' (their name for a green house--in front on the right of the picture, actually). Aren't the gardens delightful? The green house (or orangery if you are a posh person) was nice and would be perfect to enjoy when the weather is bad--which is the case a lot in this country! It's the perfect place for reading a book while it rains.
This, of course, is the Rose Garden. I am a huge fan of roses and enjoyed meandering through here smelling the different varieties. Have you noticed how some Roses have lost their scent?--probably a consequence of all the genetic engineering they do these days Well, there were some that did smell like roses ought to and those made up for the insipid ones.
I had to have a shot of this walk-way because it's the one Darcy and Elizabeth walk along together after he comes out of the house to join them. I even put my hands behind my back like Elizabeth did just to get the full effect. Too bad Mr. Darcy wasn't around to join me, but one of the grounds people told me she's been working there for seven years and hasn't seen him yet!
And, of course, we had to walk up to the famous pond where Mr. Darcy takes a swim after his long ride. The pond is very slimy and is surrounded by grazing sheep, so it's a good thing Mr. Darcy didn't really dive in. He would have come down with some sort of horrible disease I am sure. It is a nice spot if you don't look at the water too closely and are upwind from the sheep!
Anyway, lovely place, isn't it! It made my birthday really nice and one I won't forget any time soon.