Editing Chatsworth House (section)

===Park, woods and farmyard===
Chatsworth park of about {{convert|1000|acre|ha}} is open to free of charge all year round, except for the south-east section, the Old Park, which is used for breeding by herds of red and fallow deer. The stance of the Dukes on wider access rights has changed much. On the 11th Duke's death in 2004, the [[Ramblers Association]] praised him for enlightened championing of open access and his apologies for the attitude of the 10th Duke, who had restricted access to much estate land. Even under the 11th Duke, disputes arose: when the definitive [[Rights of way in England and Wales|rights of way]] were being compiled in the 1960s and 1970s, the footpath to the Swiss Cottage (an isolated house by a lake in the woods) was contested, and the matter went to the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]], making Derbyshire one of the last counties to settle its definitive maps.

[[File:The Hunting Tower Chatsworth House Derbyshire England.JPG|thumb|upright|left|The Hunting Tower c.1580]]
[[File:Chatsworth Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 112435.jpg|thumb|right|The Bridge 1759–64 by James Paine]]

Farm stock also graze in the park, many belonging to tenant farmers or smallholders, who use it for summer grazing. Bess of Hardwick's park was wholly on the east side of the river and only extended as far south as the Emperor Fountain and as far north as the cricket ground. Seven fish ponds were dug to the north-west of the house, where the large flat area is used now for events such as the annual Chatsworth Horse Trials and the Country Fair, typically held near the end of August.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chatsworth Country Fair|url=http://www.chatsworthcountryfair.co.uk |access-date=5 September 2012}}</ref> The bridge over the river was at the south end of the park and crossed to the old village of [[Edensor]], which was by the river in full sight of the house.

Capability Brown did at least as much work in the park as he did in the garden. The open, tree-flecked landscape admired today is man-made. Brown straightened the river and put a network of drainage channels under the grass. The park is fertilised with manure from the estates farms; weeds and scrub are kept under control. Brown filled in most of the fishponds and extended the park to the west of the river. Meanwhile [[James Paine (architect)|James Paine]] designed a new bridge to the north of the house, set at an angle of 40 degrees to command the best view of the West Front of the house. Most of the houses in Edensor were demolished and the village was rebuilt out of sight of the house. The hedges between the fields on the west bank of the river were grubbed up to create open parkland and woods were planted on the horizon. These were arranged in triangular clumps, so that a screen of trees could be maintained when each planting had to be felled. Brown's plantings reached their peak in the mid-20th century and are gradually being replaced. The 5th Duke had an elegant red-brick inn built at Edensor to cater to a growing number of well-to-do travellers coming to see Chatsworth. It is now the estate office.

In 1823 the Bachelor Duke acquired the [[Duke of Rutland]]'s land around [[Baslow]] to the north of Chatsworth in exchange for land elsewhere. He extended the park about {{convert|1/2|mi|m|spell=in}} north to its present limits. He had the remaining cottages of Edensor inside the park demolished, apart from the home of one old man who did not wish to move, which still stands in isolation today. The houses in Edensor were rebuilt in picturesque pattern-book styles. In the 1860s the [[William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire|7th Duke]] had [[St Peter's Church, Edensor]], enlarged by Sir [[George Gilbert Scott]]. The church spire embellishes the views from the house, garden and park. Inside there is a remarkable monument to Bess of Hardwick's sons Henry Cavendish and William, 1st Earl of Devonshire. St Peter's in Edensor is where the [[William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire|6th]], [[William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire|7th]], [[Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire|8th]], [[Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire|9th]], [[Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire|10th]] and [[Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire|11th]] Dukes and their wives are buried, not in a vault inside the church, but in individual graves marked by simple headstones, in the Cavendish family plot overlooking the churchyard.

On the hills of the eastern side of the park is Stand Wood. The Hunting Tower there was built in 1582 by Bess of Hardwick. At the top is a plateau of several square miles of lakes, woods and moorland. There are public paths through the area and Chatsworth offers guided tours with commentary in a 28-seater trailer pulled by a tractor. The area is the water source for the gravity-fed waterworks in the garden. The Swiss Lake feeds the Cascade and the Emperor Lake the Emperor Fountain. The Bachelor Duke had an aqueduct built, over which water tumbles on its way to the cascade.

The late Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, was a keen advocate of rural life. In 1973 a Chatsworth Farmyard exhibit was opened in the old building yard above the stables at explaining how food was produced. There are milking demonstrations and displays of rare breeds. An adventure playground was added in 1983. A venue for talks and exhibitions called Oak Barn was opened by the television gardener [[Alan Titchmarsh]] in 2005. Chatsworth also runs two annual rural-skills weeks, in which demonstrations of agricultural and forestry are given to groups of schoolchildren on the estate farms and woods.

In 2001, the ashes of 
[[Air Vice Marshal]] [[Johnnie Johnson (RAF officer)|James Edgar Johnson]] {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|CBE|DSO2|DFC1}}, [[Deputy lieutenant|DL]], a [[Second World War]] [[flying ace]], were scattered on the Chatsworth estate. There is a bench dedicated to his memory at his favourite fishing spot on the estate; the inscription reads "In Memory of a Fisherman".<ref>{{cite book |first=Dilip |last=Sarkar |title=Spitfire! Courage and Sacrifice |location=London |publisher=Ramrod Publications |date=2011 |pages=303–304 |isbn=978-0-9550431-6-1}}</ref>
{{clear}}