Our time with Teresa and Pablo would soon come to an end, as our friends Sioux and Claire were driving us south to Chertsey from where we would further explore. It’s always good to introduce friends who’ve heard of each other but never met, so Teresa and Pablo graciously hosted Sioux and Claire for dinner the night before. Very serendipitous that they were spending the weekend in Yorkshire and could provide us transport to their place.

Knowing we’d be driving for a few hours we’d planned on a lunch stop. I was expecting a rest area or a village pub. England doesn’t just have rest areas, they have Castles!

Sioux and Claire belong to the UK’s National Trust, Europe’s biggest conservation charity, and the membership guidebook pointed them to a spot just off the highway that would provide a respite for lunch, restroom, a bit of shopping, and yes, a castle. Hardwick Hall was one of the two properties on this land (the other now a ruin) owned by Bess of Hardwick, a friend of Elizabeth I and one of the richest women of her time. She buried 4 husbands, though I’m not sure her husbands thought she was any good at marriage. Her last husband said, “There cannot be any wife more forgetful of her duty and less careful to please her husband than you have been.” Hmm.

She did like to build things, though. Which is why Hardwick Hall was built whilst she was still living in the other property on the grounds.

From English-Heritage.org:

“Completed in 1599, the new hall was an extraordinary achievement and one of the great houses of the Elizabethan age. Like many other high-status Elizabethan houses it had huge windows – giving rise to the saying ‘Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall’. It also developed some of the innovative features first seen in Hardwick Old Hall, most notably a great hall, two storeys high, running through the centre of the house. 

Rather than one supplanting the other, the two houses were designed to complement each other. The Old Hall was still being worked on while the new one was being built, and after Bess and her family had moved across to the new house it provided useful extra accommodation for guests and servants.”

And yes, the place is magnificent, but my favorite was the kitchen. All that copper! 

I have to say, England in summer knows how to do flowers. The gardens, hanging planters, and arrangements wherever we went were spectacular. Buddleia grows like a weed on the motorways, and if you stand still long enough blackberries will start winding up your legs. Hardwick Hall’s gardens were no exception. And even though I was wearing white I had a hitchhiker on my back. She was so beautiful I’m sure she thought my white shirt would show her off nicely…

Deborah