Before you go
Book online. The ticket costs the same as on the day, but booking gives you a timed house slot on a day that may sell out and makes your parking free. Choose the earliest house slot you can face: the house is emptiest, the garden is then yours for the middle of the day, and you finish in the park when the light is at its best. Check the weather page the night before: the garden and edges are a different proposition in rain.
10.00: arrive
Sat nav DE45 1PP, follow the drive across the park and over the bridge. The car park fills by late morning at weekends. If you would rather not drive in, park in Baslow and walk the 1.5 miles through the park; you arrive at the north end of the house with the best view of the day already behind you.
10.30: the house
Ninety minutes for the visitor route, longer if you use the audio guide or the year’s exhibition is one you care about. No pushchairs or large bags; there are £1 lockers. The Painted Hall, the Chapel, the state apartments and the Sculpture Gallery are the set pieces; the Library is the room people remember.
12.00: the garden
Two hours does it justice. From the house the classic loop is: south lawn and Sea Horse Fountain, up the Cascade to the Cascade House, across to the Emperor Fountain and the Canal Pond, back through the Rock Garden and the ravine. The fountains play from 11am to 4.30pm. The maze and the kitchen garden are the uphill extras.
13.30: lunch
Cafes and restaurants in the stables courtyard and at the farmyard; picnics anywhere in the garden or park. For a pub, Baslow, Beeley, Pilsley and Edensor are all within two miles, and the farm shop cafe at Pilsley is where the locals go. See pubs and cafes near the house.
15.00: the park
Free, open till dusk, and the best part of the estate for many people. The river walk south to Calton Lees and back is an hour; the climb through Stand Wood to the Hunting Tower for the bird’s-eye view is a stiffer ninety minutes. With children, the farmyard and adventure playground go here instead.
17.00: finish
The garden and house close in the late afternoon (exact times on the official calendar). If you are staying, the villages are the place to be at six o’clock; if you are driving home, leave via Baslow and the A619 for Chesterfield and the M1, or the A6 south through Rowsley and Matlock.
If it rains
The house, the farmyard, the estate shops and the cafes are all under cover; the garden is fine in drizzle and empty in rain. The rainy-day plan has the rest.