Autumn Meeting 2026: Chatsworth House

19th October 2026

Our festivities began with the traditional pre-meeting meal, which was exceptionally well-attended this year – perhaps because every hotel room in the venue seemed to have been taken by us.

Monday morning found us arriving at Chatsworth for 8.50, sharp, though the beautiful misty morning did have us stopping to take photos.

We started things with our AGM, which guests were able to attend this year, before listening to a fascinating talk from Dr Louise Calf. Dr Calf is a past Collaborative Doctoral Award student with Chatsworth House Trust and the University of York, who spoke on Chatsworth’s theatre and the Victorian penchant for country house theatrical performances. This engaging talk also highlighted the crossover between “upstairs” and “downstairs” within these performances, with estate workers and the family both heavily involved in making the production happen.

Next up were garden tours. My group was led by Lucy Wharton, Ornamental Garden Manager, who had put together an excellent programme for us with a focus on similarities and differences between the modern and historic gardens. We walked past the bottom of the cascade (currently closed for refurbishment) into the rock garden where we learnt about the motivations behind the project. Then the maze, on the site of the huge old greenhouse which had been blown up when the greenhouse was no longer wanted! This did, to be fair, make a lot more sense once we’d seen pictures of the greenhouse which showed how small the panes of glass were.

After a delicious sandwich lunch, it was time for more tours. We were split into three groups with time for archive visits, house tours, and “freeflow” (shopping). The archive visit provided an opportunity to see some of the servants’ areas of Chatsworth as well as some of their most exciting documents. Our house tour largely followed the route of the current exhibition House of Stories: Tales from the Library at Chatsworth which is based on archival material. It was an excellent highlight tour, and our guide’s preparation level particularly impressed me when he highlighted the work of Katherine Naish, who made George III and Charlotte’s coronation chairs and shares my surname.

As always, one of the best moments of the event was returning to the house after it had been closed to the public. The venue for our drinks reception this year was the Painted Hall, and I think this picture says at least a thousand words about how much we all enjoyed being in that space. Our merry drinks were followed by a delectable (and very generous) meal in the Carriage House restaurant in the old Stables.

Tuesday morning found us at Welbeck Abbey. We had an opportunity to view the Portland Collection of art at the Harley Museum, and contemporary craft work in the Harley Open (until 3 January 2027) at the Harley Gallery. My highlights of the Harley Museum’s The World’s Mine Oyster: Art, Nature and Collecting the Globe (on until April 2029) were Michaelangelo’s ‘Madonna del Silenzio,’ slowly revealed from behind its protective shutters, and the earring Charles I wore at his execution. The attendant on duty was excellent, and had a very good eye for when we were interested in more information!

We were also taken on a tour of Welbeck Abbey itself, certainly a highlight for many. We followed the state room tour, taking in the gothic hall and its incredible plaster ceiling, the red tapestry drawing room with (comparatively) recently discovered and mounted Gobelin tapestries, the swan drawing room, and the dining room with barrel-shaped ceiling reminiscent of Chatsworth’s. There were, unfortunately, no pictures allowed but both the Harley Foundation and Welbeck websites offer an excellent glimpse into the property. One of the many Duke Williams was also known as “the burrowing duke” after his fondness for creating underground spaces and ways to avoid light exposure. The most intriguing of these was the underground ballroom, which we did not see on our tour but is absolutely worth looking up!

Our adventure ended with a visit to the School of Artisan Food for a substantial and delicious lunch before starting the journey home.