Arrive at our hotel in Chesterfield and meet your fellow travelers at a welcome dinner this evening.

This morning we travel via private motor coach to Shugborough Hall, home to the Anson family, the Earls of Lichfield, since 1624 and a rare example of a complete estate with all major buildings surviving, including the Hall, servant’s quarters complete with kitchens and dairy , a working farm, watermill, brewery and a walled garden.This afternoon we’ll transfer to the Rutland Arms Hotel in Matlock, where we’ll be staying for the remainder of the tour.

Our visit today to Lyme Park will include a guided tour of the house and, as a nod to the 200^th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, an in-depth look at Lyme during the Regency period and Lyme’s very own Regency hero, Thomas Legh of Lyme. Thomas (1792-1857) was the eldest, illegitimate son of Colonel Thomas Legh of Lyme and a maid from the Vicarage near his Lancashire estate, Haydock. As a five year old, Thomas inherited Lyme and its estates – the equivalent today of around £2 million – which allowed him to travel the world. Thomas was also a romantic hero: he was instrumental in saving a young heiress, Ellen Turner, who had been abducted, and later married her himself. After our tour of the house and below stairs areas, you’ll be free to explore the 1,400 acre estate with its medieval herd of red deer, the elegant Rose Garden and the lake where a certain Miss Bennet came upon a damp Mr. Darcy in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice.

Before heading back to Matlock, we’ll be visiting Capesthorne Hall with its stunning Jacobean style architecture and set in 100 acres of picturesque parkland, with exquisite gardens and chain of three serene lakes. Home to the Bromley-Davenports, whose ancestors have owned the land since Domesday times, the Hall contains a great variety of treasures, fine paintings, furniture, marble, Greek vases and family muniments dating from 1153.

We spend today at Harewood House, family seat of the Earl and Countess of Harewood and now film set, having stood in for Buckingham Palace during the filming of ITV’s Victoria.  The magnificent House displays fourteen state rooms featuring the work of Robert Adam and extensive domestic rooms below stairs. Outside, take some time to stroll the `Capability’ Brown landscapes, the award winning gardens and ornamental lakes.

Today has been left free for you to sleep in and explore the market town of Matlock and nearby Matlock Bath. Stroll the ancient streets, explore the variety of shops and cafes or visit the nearby Heights of Abraham and the historic Cromford Mill, the world’s first water-powered cotton mill, developed by Richard Arkwright.

A full day at Castle Howard, one of the Treasure Houses of England. Ancestral seat of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family, many will recognize it as “Brideshead” in two different film adaptations of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and various interiors were used in filming Death Comes to Pemberley and as Kensington Palace in Victoria.  And it’s easy to understand why – Castle Howard contains stunning interiors and a vast array of incredible artwork. You will be free to take in all 145 rooms, including downstairs areas, at your own pace. The grounds feature an arboretum, the Atlas Fountain and the Temple of the Four Winds.

Today we’ll be visiting one of Britain’s most iconic stately homes: Grade I listed Chatsworth House, which has just undergone a £37 million renovation. The House is another location said to have served as a model for Jane Austen’s Pemberley.Home to the Dukes of Devonshire, our guide will also share with us the history of the memorable people who have left their stamp upon Chatsworth House, including the Bachelor Duke, William Cavendish, who served as Ambassador to Russia under Czar Nicholas I, Georgiana Spencer and Elizabeth Foster, two of the parties in one of history’s strangest ménage a trios, and Deborah Mitford, perhaps the most beloved of all the Devonshire Duchesses. We’ll tour the house and State Rooms, including the magnificent Painted Hall and the Sculpture Gallery. Afterwards, you may want to stop for lunch before touring the extensive gardens and taking a short stroll over the hill to Edensor, the picturesque model village built to the specifications of the 6^th Duke of Devonshire with the help of Joseph Paxton. Our tour closes with a farewell dinner this evening.