Monday, December 26, 2022

Chatsworth Christmas Market with Lee

On the 21st of November Lee had the day off and we headed off to Chatsworth to visit the Christmas market. I follow Wax This Way on Instagram (I highly recommend their wax!) and saw that they were setting up their stall at the market, and thought I would like to go. I imagine it is heaving at the weekend but thankfully Lee had a couple of days holiday left so he booked one off. I went to craft club for a little bit, then we set off from Penistone at about 11.30. Chatsworth is about an hour away from there, over the tops and past Ladybower reservoir. It's a nice drive. You had to pay for parking but it was well organised. Pre booking was essential - signs said not to proceed if you didn't have a ticket booked, and that's just on a random wet Monday! As I can't walk far, we were told to go closer to the entrance to the market, which was really useful for us. Staff were doing brilliantly! 

I did find the market quite accessible - the walking wasn't too hilly and even though it was raining so much the flooring they had in most places wasn't slippy and I found it fine to walk on. I walked a long way! There's plenty of seats and some are undercover, but the ones that aren't were wet. That was our main issue - neither of us had a proper coat, just hoodies, and we ended up VERY wet.

Anyway we walked in and went straight up to the food stalls as it was lunchtime and we were hungry. I immediately noticed a sign for vegan bockwurst, so I had one of those with sauerkraut and mustard. It was so good! Lee ordered a Yorkshire pudding wrap, which took a while, but he really enjoyed it which is the main thing. Then we started to walk round the market. Most sellers were really friendly, despite the rain. There was a good variety of stalls. We bought cheese, presents, Christmas decorations, brownies, and lots of candles and melts (I treated myself!). I would definitely recommend the market for its variety. 

About 2pm we had some hot chocolate, and a sit down under one of the gazebos. Then we did the rest of the market, by which time we were really wet in the rain and had seen all the stalls. Our tickets did also get us into the stables shops and cafes, and we could have gone to the estate shop, but we didn't go to any of those. I would visit again and go though! 

We drove to Bakewell and eventually managed to find parking. Lee wanted to go to the record shop he found last time we went to Bakewell. He spent £50! We could have gone in more shops but we had barely dried out in the car and I was very tired. Fortunately we did both have dry hoodies to put on, which helped. Anyway we decided to go and have a drink in the pub while we waited for Sahil Street Food to open. The pub had mulled wine! I would have had some at the market but had hot chocolate instead, so I was happy to have some in the pub. It was warming and lovely. 

I had found Sahil Street Food on Tripadvisor, where it's the best place for vegetarian food in Bakewell apparently! It opened at 4pm and we got in there just after. It's basically a takeaway but they do have some tables, so we sat down. We ordered vegetable pakora, samosa chaat, masala fries, butter chicken for Lee and Mum's school vegetable curry for me. Oh and a naan bread! It was SO good! I'd highly recommend it if you're in the area. I didn't eat all the chaat so I brought that home with me. The pakoras were SO good - light and spicy and gorgeous. 

After we'd eaten we came home. It was such a good day, I really enjoyed the market and the good food I had! We've said we'll go again next year for definite! 

I was wearing the lollidot skirt that I wear quite a lot, with my star print top from Simply Be. I've been struggling with my mental health for the past few weeks, so to try to combat that I'm leaning heavily into cosy and embracing Christmas even though it was only the middle of November. This star top is one of my festive pieces of clothing!



My vegan bockwurst! So good! This is before I got very wet


One of the bars at the market


The front of the stables


Getting wetter


This statue is in the stable courtyard


And so is this lovely fountain


And this gives some extra info about the Devonshire family


Looking down the market


And this is the entrance to where the house itself is, it looked really pretty


Loved this bus - if it wasn't raining it would be lovely to sit on top!


Hot chocolates for us


And here I am ninety minutes later with my mulled wine


The Christmas tree in the pub was lovely


Here we are! 


Samosa chaat, I absolutely love this wherever it is


Vegetable pakora


Mum's school vegetable curry - a few too many peas for my liking but it was nice


Star print top and skirt, I had sparkly tights on too


And here's what we bought for us!

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