Before we head into the deep depths of winter and all things Christmas consume our days I thought I’d share a little autumn escape with you. I ventured to one of England’s most beautiful spots – the Peak District.

In a bid to make use of every spare weekend, we piled some warm clothes into our weekend bags, loaded the car and whisked up north for a time out from city life and a chance to fill our lungs with some fresh country air.

Our sisterly weekend adventure began at Chatsworth House, a place that has been on my ‘to visit list’ for as long as I can remember.

We drove into the vast grounds and were greeted with a Baroque architectural treat.

Chatsworth House is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and has been passed down through many generations. The stately home has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549 and is set in 105 acres of land.

Before we began our exploration of the elaborate house we stopped for a tea break in the Cavendish Restaurant.

We nestled into the cosy restaurant that overlooks a stunning courtyard and stables that house quaint garden/interior shops.

As we all know tea is served best with cake, hence our grinning faces and we indulged in afternoon tea for two.

The traditional afternoon tea was a total steal at only £19.50, we had tiers packed with dainty finger sandwiches, a selection of homemade cakes and of course a helping of warm baked scones smothered in jam and clotted cream.

Once our bellies were fully spoilt we set off to discover the exceptional interiors I’d been desperate to visit.

We stepped into the house renowned for ancient works of art and sculptures.

The traditional interior had decorative stair runners with brass stair rods sweeping up the staircase through to overly detailed stone flooring.

The surrounding walls were lined with sculptors and ornate paintings.

We casually strolled through into the jaw-dropping Painted Hall that was an unexpected surprise; William Talman designed the vast room.

The ceiling for starters has a richly painted mural portraying scenes from the life of Julius Caesar.

The central staircase was rebuilt back in 1912 and has an intricate balustrade that sweeps all the way up.

The moment I laid eyes on this space I anticipated it would probably be my most loved room throughout the house already.

Another reason I was keen to visit Chatsworth House was to experience an exhibition that was due to finish called Make Yourself Comfortable at Chatsworth. The exhibition has now ended but I’ll take you on whirlwind tour of what you missed.

The exhibition took place in the main house and showcased an array of innovative designers contemporary seat designs.

Make Yourself Comfortable was commissioned specifically for the exhibition and included some exceptional pieces of craftsmanship and also elements from the Duke and Duchess’s personal collection.

In the Painted Hall sat in pride of place were Thomas Heatherwick’s well-recognised red and black spun chairs. The design was based on the concept of creating a large drum with a symmetrical rotational form that could serve as a chair, made with matt colour polyethylene.

The design team worked tirelessly to create a seat that had an ergonomic comfortable form but also had the ability to spin.

After admiring the sensational interior surrounding us, we climbed into the seats and spun around like giddy school children without a care in the world. The seats were surprisingly comfortable and ridiculously fun, who’d have thought sitting down could be so entertaining.

The grotto space was the original Duke’s first plumbing system and provided hot water to an elaborate marble bathtub. To play on the spaces purpose the exhibition positioned the Water Block, designed by Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka.

The statement bench was created using a mixture of glass and stainless steel. The Water Block design was simplistic in form but cleverly crafted adding a rippled water effect to the edges.

We traveled through the hallway past the largest piece of quartz rock crystal I’ve ever seen!

Upstairs in the Oak Room a space that was temporarily used as a library, became the appropriate spot to house Thomas Mills’ self contained library seating.

Lauren gladly hopped aboard to check out its comfort and admire the multi-functional seating.

We wondered through to the Chapel a space that has had limited alterations since it was complete back in the 1600s.

The exhibition presented four different amazing pieces of work in the Chapel. First up we checked out Joseph Walsh’s carefully crafted Enignum chairs made using olive ash and different shades of suede.

The pieces were inspired by nature and beautifully carved by the Irish born artist. I think the light Egnium in the white oil suede is a real piece of beauty and creates a sculptural element to the space.

Tom Price’s Counterpart works stood at the forefront of the Chapel and created a contrasting mixture of materials on both benches, although cleverly both were dramatic works of art in their complete on right.

The dark black block was made with a combination of coal, jesmonite, timber and steel elements. The pieces were commissioned directly for the exhibition; the use of coal in this piece plays reference to the mineral rights held by the Devonshire family. It’s such a striking bench and shows a clever use of materials machined to create this solid block seating.

In contrast to this piece Tom Price also created the glowing transparent block produced with a variety of resins, acrylic, steel and lighting.

This block was formed to represent the stunning purple quartz I showed you earlier on in Chatsworth House.

My favourite of the two blocks, I spent ages staring at all the components inside this piece that worked together.

Located at the back of the Chapel was Amanda Levete’s Drift bench, the seat was hand finished in a dark timber and was built using a layered process with a curvaceous form. The designer’s idea was based upon pushing the preconceptions of how timber can be used to create a contemporary design.

   

We headed back through the Painted Hall up towards the Great Stairs, an architectural dream with a cantilevered construction that is commonly used to make steps appear to be floating.

In this space Korean designer Myungtaek Jung’s seating was positioned. I wasn’t quite sure what the concept was behind this work of art but later discovered it was called Seating for Communicating – Over the Rainbow.

The idea to capture ones imagination but serve as a functional bench, it was formed working with rattan, Baltic birch plywood to give it some stability alongside steel and sisal rope.

We had a cheeky peek out at the gardens that we planned to also explore as part of our adventure.

Propped against the Great Chambers window bench were Christina Liljenberg Halstrøm Nordic stools. The simplistic stools provided an interesting contemporary spin on the grand space they were located in.

I thought the Fade Stool designed by Catherine Aitken was particularly cool with its cotton cord spiral to the top surface.

 

Amongst all the fascinating furniture pieces presented throughout the house we made sure to sit back and soak in the interior decadence displayed throughout the house too.

This room was wrapped in luxurious green satin adding a layer of extravagance to the already impressive space with expansive windows and high ceilings.

The State Drawing Room was a charming space; we sat back on the window seats to absorb the busy surroundings.

Artist Deborah Bowness using a silk screen-printing process created the Souvenirs Wallpaper.

The wallpaper became the main focal point of the space and was unbelievably interesting, I couldn’t help but me drawn to the section with the little puppy perched on a chair.

We eventually stepped into the dramatic State Music Room; the entire space was heavily painted and embellished with intricate mouldings.

The State Music Room usually displays the coronation thrones, but was relocated for Moritz Waldemeyer’s thrones to be positioned instead.

The seats are fittingly named By Royal Appointment, the design of these chairs is really clever, when you sat down the chair registers the colour of your clothing and projects it on the section behind using LED lighting.

The halo of light also evokes images of kings and queens – pretty cool right!

The State Bedroom had one of the most insanely extravagant four-poster beds located in it. We learnt that this was the exact bed that George II died in.

In contrast to this historical space was Marc Newson’s Lockheed Lounge chair.

This familiar chaise lounge was created with fibreglass and aluminium and formed part of Madonna’s music video Rain back in 1993.

This chaise sold for an amazing £1.1million in an auction in 2009, which I imagine has to be one of the most ridiculously expensive chairs in the world.

A new addition to the house was added in 2009 known as the North Sketch Gallery. The space fuses art and architecture; the entire room walls were clad in ceramics.

The ceramics are handmade textured panels that are all unique in size; fascinatingly the panels have a depiction of the Devonshire family’s DNA embedded into the design. Capturing the individuals’ personalities and representing this on the ceramic blocks as opposed to traditional portraits that would normally represent them.

The panels cannot be touched but nonetheless create a unique element to Chatsworth fusing a contemporary design in the traditional setting.

We spotted Piet Hein Eek’s reclaimed chairs, produced using scrap wood.

 

In the Oak Landing were the glossy chairs by Assa Ashuach, which we attempted to climb into, something that looks far easier than it is in reality.

I gave up with visions of falling on my face; and opted to just admire the chairs made using 3D processes.

We carried on through to discover a variety of themed chairs, one being this transparent chair flocked with neon textiles. The chairs was designed by Thomas & Vines, and named Louis Clear Chairs.

Lauren sat back and relaxed in this fun bookshelf chair and ottoman designed by Nobody & Co.

The piece can actually hold up to 5 meters of books, it was located in the Ante-library that ironically houses 3,000 books.

The Great Dining Room had the most magical ceiling and oozes richness in the palette used and dramatic window treatments.

The dining table was set with chairs commissioned by students of Sheffield Hallam University.

The tablecloth was also designed for the exhibition by Robin Howie to add a fun twist to the fantasy dinner party.

Lastly but not least, a colourful explosion of seating spread across the Sculptural Gallery.

The Raw Edges Studio presented Endgrain, seating that was positioned to gain a different perspective on sculptures.

The colour blocks of timber are painted using the wood grain to carry the dye, and then the blocks are glued together to create a pattern. Finally the blocks are then sculptured into seats, cutting through the rectangular graphic pattern.

The Sculptural Gallery was built in the 19^th century and is actually where the Sixth Duke held his contemporary works of art, and he introduced colour into the space adding a variety of marbles in the pedestals.

Ultimately this made a fitting spot to represent the colourful and sculptured Endgrain seats.

We both thought they created a fantastic effect emerging from the floor and breaking through with an injection of colour.

What’s your preferred colour red or green? I voted green but Lauren loved the red version!

Make Yourself Comfortable has sadly now finished, but I hope that’s given a decent insight into what went on.

Chatsworth House hold various exhibitions and events throughout the year, the house itself is magical so make sure you squeeze a visit in at some point. Chatsworth House currently is dressed for Christmas from now until 3^rd January 2016 and I bet it’s pretty spectacular.

We couldn’t resist in messing about in the gift shop and retired for another tea break. Testing chairs requires some great skill you know, it’s actually tiresome work.