Celebrate Life!: the sun DOES shine in England!

(Disclaimer: So this post is going to have a lot of pictures...it was already hard to narrow it down. Sorry! But they're AWESOME!)

So we had the best weekend yet! After that fun hike with Candice the day before, it only got better when we went to Lyme Park and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire on Saturday. The best part of the day was that the sun was shining!!! Blue skies, yellow sunshine, and pure joy! It really is amazing how much sunshine can do for the soul. :)

Our good friend, Phil, drove us once again. I think that was another reason it was such a great day - no public transportation! We got driven straight to Lyme Park, got picked up and driven straight to Chatsworth House, and taken straight home. It was bliss! Let me tell you!

So this post may speak a little better to those of you who are Jane Austen fans, but I hope the rest of you still enjoy it, because these places are beautiful! We first went to Lyme Park, which is an old English manor on extensive grounds, with exquisite gardens you can roam. This was where they filmed the Pemberley (Mr. Darcy's home) in the old Pride & Prejudice (A&E).

Michelle and I climbing the wall to Mr. Darcy ;)

I was really there!

This was where he ran out of the house buttoning his jacket to catch Elizabeth before she leaves with her aunt and uncle!

And these are the stairs they walk up together

Just a beautiful side view of the house

Lyme Park was nice because most people don't know about it so there was hardly anyone there. The grounds were smaller (ha ha - it's all relative) but very beautiful!

Next, Phil drove us to Chatsworth House, the Pemberley of the new Pride & Prejudice. Now this place was HUGE! - the grounds, the gardens, the house, everything! -

Can you see Keira Knightley - she pulls up in the carriage, looks at the house, and laughs at herself as she steps out.

The statue room...yes, all those statues were really there! It was super cool!

The doors were humongous!

The Mr. Darcy bust, and my favorite statue in the whole movie (on the right)!

Haven't you always wanted to dress like this? :)

An awesome book about elderly people we found in the gift shop

In the gardens, there is a massive waterfall and everyone had their shoes off, playing in it. Do you think I was just going to sit there and watch?! ;)

We bought these AMAZINGLY tasty ice cream cones and discovered that Michelle inhales ice cream and I'm apparently the only person in the whole world that licks my ice cream cone so it lasts longer. :) Boy, was it yummy!

While exploring the gardens, I found my perfect reading spot (isn't this tree awesome?!)

There was also a really cool maze we went through, but I don't have a good picture since we couldn't get above it. Just imagine a really cool corn maze at Halloween, but made out of hedges and in a beautiful garden!

I kept saying how much I would love to have grounds/gardens like that, but I would just put a little cottage on it. I don't need the big house, but I would take the land!! :) It was heavenly!