uk roadtrip part 7: lyme park

On our way from Hathersage to Manchester, we had such a marvellous afternoon at Lyme Park (yes - Pemberley in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, for those of you who are interested in that kind of info :)). We met up with Rachel there for what we thought would be some touristing around the house and grounds, but which, as you can see, became more than just traditional touristing. :)

Liam and Rachel before the transformation! :)

This is the entrance hall - isn't it lush? As we were going in, Rachel told us that pre-pandemic, you were able to dress up in regency era clothes at Lyme Park, but that she didn't know if that was possible now. It was already afternoon when we got there, so we decided to go up to the dressing room right away.

Turns out that yes - you were absolutely still able to dress up! It was delightful, they had a room full of clothes and accessories, and volunteers helped us pick out the things (and told Liam in what order to put things on - he had so many layers!). And then we were able to walk around the house and grounds in the clothes!!!

It was JUST SO DELIGHTFUL. And SO FUN. It's actually hard to describe what was so cool about the experience - it's "just clothes" after all - but just walking around looking and feeling like this was so ... not ordinary.

I cut the feet off of all the photos as we were wearing modern shoes and it kind of detracted from the feel of the photos. :) (There were shoes we could have borrowed, but you're not allowed to go outside in them, so we chose our own shoes this time.)

Rachel is the cutest <3

We snuck into the orangery for some photos too.

I MEAN

HOT STUFF

We had to hurry back to the dressing room after only a little while, as that room had an earlier closing time than the rest of the house. But next time we'll plan better, and arrive in the morning, and spend all day just floating around the house and gardens in these clothes! And I will take millions more photos! (These were kind of rushed, and you know I always want to take my time. )

So after returning the clothes (and swooning some more over Liam because like ... I don't know what this magic was, but all the friends I showed the photos to agreed that "you all look great, but Liam! It's like he was made for these clothes!") we did the more traditional bit of walking around the house and looking at all the beautiful rooms. I wouldn't mind a library like this ...