Our Walk Around Lyme Park

The Lyme Park estate is expansive, and the house is elegant. (Another white sky!)

An easy train ride from Buxton, Lyme Park is a grand estate, which includes a large residence and a deer park, now managed by the UK National Trust. Because we have visited several stately homes in the past, we did not go into the house, for which there was a charge, but instead strolled the grounds, which were free.

The tower, which is known as The Cage. (We did have intermittent sun
and, for once, in this photo, a partly blue sky.)

Views towards Manchester from our picnic spot.

Kevin standing in front of The Cage.

We ate a picnic lunch at the  tower on a hill, enjoying the sweeping views across the countryside. Once a hunting lodge, and later a park-keeper’s lodge and lockup, the current building dates from 1737.

The house, itself, a grand and imposing structure, has been featured in several films and TV shows, including Red Dwarf, and The Awakening. It also served as Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s residence in the 1995 BBC production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. (Colin Firth rose to stardom for his role as Darcy.) I could happily live there.

View of the rear of the great house.

We particularly enjoyed our walk in the grounds behind the house, where we searched in vain for the red deer that hang out there. As you can see, the view of the house and gardens from here was majestic.  

Sadly, after our long walk, we craved an ice cream, but we felt the price was too high, so we, regretfully, saved our bodies from overindulgence. Nonetheless, it was a grand day out!