Hardwick New Hall is an Elizabethan country house near
to Chesterfield, opposite Hardwick Old Hall. Ownership of the hall was
given to the National Trust in 1959. Surrounding the hall are the gardens, which
you can also see in this post, and a pond where we my boyfriend had to
rescue a frog because it couldn’t get out.
Outside the hall you could listen to a talk on the
history of the place before going inside to look around. There were
people in each of the rooms so you could ask them any questions you might
have. The hall was built between 1590 and 1597 for Bess of Hardwick; an interesting
fact – work started on the new hall before the old hall had even been
completed!
The gardens were split in to four sections; my
favourite being the herb garden and the rose bushes.