Brilliant Bess

The path leading to the kitchens of Hardwick Hall is a pleasant garden walk in its own right!

Functioning rather like a billboard in Times Square—or perhaps I should reference Piccadilly Circus—the letters E and S brand this great house unmistakably as the seat of someone rich and powerful. Elizabeth of Shrewsbury was all that and more, establishing the long line of dukes dubbed “Devonshire,” overseeing the creation of what is now a national architectural treasure, and filling it with Elizabethan tapestries, carpets, furniture, friezes, and needleworks that survive to this day. We learned during our visit that a stonemason would need six full days of toil to cut just one of the E’s that adorn Elizabeth’s rooftops. My bad. I refer to them as being made of metal in Noble. Wonder where I found that.

This hunting-scene overmantel helps Edwin get his bearings inside Hardwick Old Hall in the novel Noble.

The plasterwork adornments in Hardwick Old Hall were a decorating approach Elizabeth of Shrewsbury took with her across the street, hiring skilled artisans to create walls and overmantels even more grand for her new hall. This hunting-scene overmantel dominates what was the Great Hall on the ground floor of Hardwick Old Hall.

The gardens at Hardwick Hall were in full bloom the day we visited. They did not disappoint, offering up the quintessential country-house-garden experience of color, variety, and artful design. Open the photo gallery below, use the arrows to take a stroll through the gardens, then join me in Pentrich.