Lyme Park

After a quick, energizing picnic, we began our tour of Lyme with a visit to the Hall, originally a Tudor house later transformed into an Italianate palace by the Venetian architect Leoni. Inside we found many Mortlake tapestries, Elizabethan interiors, and the newly opened Edwardian "Oak" and "Acorn" bedrooms, each with an intriguing story of its own.

The garden was perhaps the most impressive feature of Lyme Park with its stunning flower beds, sunken Dutch garden, Edwardian rose garden, herbaceous borders, ravine garden, and Victorian conservatory, not to mention its reflection lake, a fitting compliment to the Hall. After leaving the house and garden, we made a small trek across the parkland to The Cage, an early 18th-century hunting tower, its majestic position on the crest of a hill far more interesting than its recently restored interiors.

Lyme appeared as Pemberley in the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and also featured in The Forsyte Saga.

Date of Our Last Visit: July 2003