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At the beginning of September, we spent a wonderful day in the hot sunshine, at Chatsworth Country Fair. We had never been before, but there was so much to see and do in the beautiful surroundings of Chatsworth.
Chatsworth House and Gardens are located in Derbyshire, in the heart of the Peak District National Park, and it is the perfect place with stunning surroundings for this yearly event over three days.
As honorary Country Fair President, Mary Berry opened the event, alongside the Duke of Devonshire. There were live demos in the Stoves Cookery Theatre from Mary Berry, along with Nadiya Hussain and Paul Hollywood.
There were lots of interesting stalls to walk around, with country clothing, gifts, homeware, jewellery and fine food and drink, as well as a fair for the kids which Ava loved. There was a wide variety of places to eat and drink and I really enjoyed wandering around with a glass of Prosecco in my hand in the sunshine!
We spent quite a while watching dogs run and jump into water at the K9 Aqua Sports, which the kids loved! The dogs jumped from a deck into a pool to compete against each other in the long jump, high jump and sprint! It was very funny to watch. We had our family’s dog with us and he was going to have a go, which would have been fun, but unfortunately the queue was too long at the time we went.
Something I wanted to see was the JCB’s Dancing Diggers, which weigh over 80 tonnes, but we sadly missed it. The team of mechanical monsters weighing over 80-tonnes performed a brand new routine in the Grand Ring, which would have been very cool to see. There was also entertainment from the popular Household Cavalry Musical Ride, Birds of Prey displays, as well as performances from the Global Stars Aerobatics Display.
We didn’t sit still for long as there was too much to see (and the kids wouldn’t have sat still for long!), but you could easily sit and relax and enjoy the entertainment, and lots of people had taken their own chairs and picnics and parked themselves next to the main arena, which was a great idea.
A major highlight for me was watching the parachuters from The British Legion Extreme Human Flight Team come down and land in the Grand Ring. It was amazing watching them jump out of the helicopter above us and sail smoothly down and come to a landing in the area in front of us! I didn’t realise it was possible to land so accurately, and it was brilliant to watch.
My other favourite part of the day was actually as we were leaving the showground, and we’d accidentally timed it perfectly to see all of the hot air balloons set off into the air as the sun started to go down. It was wonderful seeing them all slowly move into the air, with the stunning backdrop of the river and fields beyond. They went right over our heads and we stood for a quite a while watching them all (plus one take a little dip in the river and one hit a tree!), and it was such a lovely way to end the day. There were a total of 55 hot air balloons that set off each day at dawn and dusk across the fair – which is one of the country’s largest hot air balloon lifts.
There was so much to see and do all day, at Chatsworth Country Fair, and we didn’t even make it round everything in one day. You could have a go at country pursuits such as clay pigeon shooting, rifle shooting, archery or fly fishing from the new pontoons. The aerobatic displays from the Global Stars flight team were brilliant to watch, although a bit scary as the planes did loops in the air!
As well as the vintage fairground, there was lots more for kids to keep kids entertained, with the family fun dog show, zorbing, a bungee trampoline, climbing wall, zipline, and exotic animals to visit.
There were plenty of loos around, and we never had to queue at all, which was great, and there was also an attended Mobiloo, as well as a limited number of blue badge car parking spaces at the front of each car park.
There is so much to see and do that we didn’t even see everything in one day; we could have easily filled two days at Chatsworth Country Fair, and we’d love to go again next year.
Next years Chatsworth Country Fair has been confirmed as taking place on 30th, 31st August and 1st September 2019.
For more information, visit: www.chatsworth.org/countryfair
We were provided with tickets to Chatsworth Country Fair, but all words and opinions are my own. See my full disclosure policy here.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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