The Only Way is Pemberley

On Sunday we went to Lyme Park in Cheshire to see 'The Only Way is Pemberley' winter exhibition. Lyme Park was used as the location for Mr Darcy's home Pemberley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The exhibition was put on to celebrate the bi-centennial of the novel's publication, although it mainly focused on the BBC adaptation. It was rather a thrill for me to see some of the costumes worn during filming as I have long been a fan of the series. I first read Pride and Prejudice when I was about fourteen and I have loved it ever since. The BBC adaptation is so faithful to the book that I couldn't help but love it and it remains one of my favourite television series of all time.

As well as costumes from the series, there were also costumes that you could try on. This was rather a thrill for Emma as she loves nothing more than dressing up. Lily didn't want to put on the whole costume, but she loved wearing the bonnet and cloak and playing with the fan. Mark cut a dash in an officer's costume and Tom just sat patiently and waited for everyone to get it all out of their system. Dressing up is definitely not Tom's thing! After wearing their lovely Regency costumes, the girls spent the rest of the day wearing their coats as cloaks by not using the sleeves and simply doing up one button at the neck. They were probably cold, but they were happy!

In addition to costumes, there were Regency foods to try, although there wasn't much of anything left by the time we were going around. I did pick up a recipe for venison pate though, so if I can just get hold of some venison...

We were lucky with the weather and we enjoyed walking around the garden in the February sunshine and seeing the first snowdrops peaking up out of the ground. Although the trip was mainly for my benefit, we all had a lovely time.

The only picture I managed to get of Tom!

Emma loved dressing up in a (much too big) Regency costume. 

Lily loved the cloak and fan

A dashing officer and his followers

The 12ft fibreglass statue of Mr Darcy emerging from the lake (recalling the famous scene from the BBC series) is something of a peculiarity. It was originally commissioned to celebrate the launch of some TV channel or other and was first seen emerging from the Serpentine in Hyde Park. It is peculiar, to say the least!

Note the 'cloaks'!

Darcy and Elizabeth's wedding costumes from the series

You may recognise this shirt! It is the outfit that Mr Darcy wore in that famous lake scene. Need I say more?

A detail from Elizabeth's wedding dress

The bonnet that Elizabeth wore at her wedding originally matched the dress, but has yellowed with age.

Darcy and Elizabeth's day outfits. I couldn't get a good picture as they were in front of a window and I didn't like to use flash. I always loved that dress and jacket! I much preferred the simpler costumes of the Bennet girls to the more ostentatious dresses worn by Caroline and Louisa. Give me a simple cotton print any day!

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