Chatsworth House, taken by Paul Collins. Found on Wikipedia.

Archie’s getting a little bit impatient with me, because he wants his blog back, but first I wanted to tell you about our trip to Chatsworth House and Garden in Derbyshire last weekend.

When I say “our,” I’m afraid that doesn’t include Archie. His Mum and myself went to stay with some friends in the Midlands, and we couldn’t take The Archieness with us. I don’t think he minded too much, though, as he went to stay with his real mum and half-sister, and I’m fairly sure he enjoys that. He came back exhausted – as he always does – which suggests that he had a good time.

To get back to our weekend away, on Saturday we went to visit Chatsworth House and Garden, which is near to Bakewell in Derbyshire. We last visited there about ten years ago, and it was good to go back to one of the most outstanding stately homes in England. It’s always been one of our favourites.

This short blog post is not intended to be a thorough review of Chatsworth, or anything like that. I just wanted to give it an honourable mention for the simple reason that they allow you to take your dog into the gardens. Many of these properties will allow dogs (on leads) into the grounds around them, but not into the gardens closest to the house. However, Chatsworth is one of the very few that will.

Chatsworth

And what magnificent gardens they are. At over one hundred acres in size, there is plenty of room to walk your dog and lose the kids. There are cascades, a towering fountain (which on full power can reach nearly three hundred feet high), a tree that squirts water at you, a maze, and countless other fascinating features.

If you are able to leave your dog somewhere and go inside the house, it is worth a visit. My favourite room is the library, which is lit as though it is evening, and very inviting it looks, too. And don’t miss the amazing picture of a violin painted on a door – you would swear it was a real instrument hanging there.

You can also walk in the thousand acres of grounds outside of the gardens. These grounds have the River Derwent running through them, and are stunningly beautiful. If you want to explore further, that particular area of Derbyshire is known as the Peak District, and would be one of my top places to visit in England for beautiful scenery and attractive towns and villages. Don’t forget to try a Bakewell Pudding while in that town – the Pudding is quite different to the Bakewell Tart, with which many people are familiar.

For information on visiting Chatsworth, please see the official website at www.chatsworth.org

To read more about Chatsworth, please see the article on Wikipedia

Okay, Archie – you can have your blog back now.

Sooty hoping for ice cream

Archie’s meanderings on Scotland have brought back memories of when we used to take our caravan or camper van up there each autumn for a holiday. In those days we had a dog named Sooty. He was a rescue dog, and all we know is that originally he came from Wales, and was described as a Border Terrier cross. He was a little larger than Archie, but had a similar scruffiness and character about him which helped us to believe that he had some of the breed in him somewhere.

He was a much more laid-back dog than Archie. Much less “in yer face” but still very affectionate. We had him from when he was about eighteen months old to when he died, at about thirteen years old, and he left us with many good memories. One of my favourite memories of Sooty comes from his last visit to Scotland, although it has to be said that it is tinged with sadness.

When we first had Sooty, we lived in Hampshire, and my wife had a friend who had a Female West Highland White Terrier named Poppy. Sooty and Poppy became great pals, and used to go out for walks together. Sooty loved to run. He would somehow lower his body to make it more streamlined, and would then run like the wind. He could run so fast that it is hard to imagine any dog being able to outpace him. Whether he was on a beach or a field, he would run in huge circles, as fast as he could – and, of course, Poppy would try to keep up with him. Except that she couldn’t, so she would try to keep up by running around in smaller circles inside his.

Poppy’s Mum was Scottish, and eventually the family moved up to Scotland, while we moved to the east of England. As Scotland was now a much easier journey for us (get on the A1 and keep driving), we would go there every Autumn for at least two weeks. Sometimes we would be there for the fantastic Autumn colours, but sometimes we would be a little too early. Autumn colours or not, Scotland is an exceptionally beautiful country, and I recommend you visit if you haven’t already. We particularly love Perthshire, and would spend many hours by the various lochs there, or walking on Rannoch Moor.

Usually, at some point during our visit, we would head further north towards Inverness to visit Poppy and her family. Sooty, of course, got to know where Poppy now lived, and as soon as the front door of the house was opened he would burst in and go looking for Poppy. Towards the end of his life, Sooty was arthritic and had a bad heart. However, there were two circumstances where he forgot about his infirmities: the first was if he saw a cat, and the second was when he was with Poppy again – who was herself elderly by now. They would chase, play, and wrestle like puppies, until eventually it was time for us to leave.

On the last occasion we went there, Archie burst into the house as usual, and started to look for Poppy. He went from room to room, searching for her, but she was not to be found. She had died a little while before our visit. Eventually, Sooty gave up his search, and settled down to rest quietly. I like to think that he realised what had happened, and that he was grieving for his old friend.

As I said, that was Sooty’s last trip to Scotland. His own health declined – he had an enlarged heart and arthritis – so that although he was in good spirits, his body wouldn’t let him do what he used to. We took him to a heart specialist, who was able to give him another six months of quality life, but eventually his heart just gave up. During those last few months, we were due to move to the south-west of England with my job, and Sooty would come house-hunting with us. Sadly, he died just before we moved, but we brought his ashes with us, and he has a memorial in the garden.

After a while, we decided to look for another dog, and we were keen to find a Border Terrier. Quite quickly, we found Archie, and he came home with us. He is quite different to Sooty, as I’ve already said, but he too has a connection with Scotland. We used to visit a shop in a town in Perthshire, where a Border Terrier named Archie would often be seen. So when we found Archie, we thought it was a good name for him, and I have to say it suits him perfectly.

A characterful name for a characterful dog.