{"id":689235,"date":"2026-07-13T12:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689235\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:35:11","slug":"chatsworth-house-pilots-community-membership-free-entry-scheme-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689235\/","title":{"rendered":"Chatsworth House pilots \u2018community membership\u2019 free entry scheme | Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Kate, a 47-year-old contract worker came face to face with Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s handwriting while visiting Chatsworth House, the avid reader, who counts Jane Eyre as her favourite book, struggled to contain her excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a little bit of a moment,\u201d she said. \u201cI just thought: \u2018Wow, that was actually Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s writing there on that page.\u2019 That was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was her first visit inside Chatsworth House<\/a>. Although she has lived just 90 minutes from the stately home for two decades, the cost of admission had long been a barrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been to Chatsworth before just to have a walk around the grounds, which are beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cBut going into the house and the gardens is something we\u2019ve never done before as a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kate, her husband and their two children are among the first to benefit from a pilot scheme designed to widen access to one of Britain\u2019s best-known country houses. Through her longstanding membership of Swadlincote Library in Derbyshire<\/a>, she borrowed a free seven-day Chatsworth community membership card that gave her family free entry to the estate.<\/p>\n

The painted hall at Chatsworth House. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The initiative, launched by Chatsworth House Trust with Derbyshire Libraries<\/a>, allows groups of up to eight people to visit the house, gardens and grounds at no cost. The pilot comes amid the growing cost of living crisis that forces families to prioritise basic necessities, putting many cultural experiences beyond their reach.<\/p>\n

Jane Marriott, the director of Chatsworth House Trust, said the charity wanted to \u201cshare Chatsworth with as many people as possible\u201d, adding that the partnership with Derbyshire Libraries would widen access to the estate and \u201cchampion the value of reading for pleasure\u201d.<\/p>\n

With two issued per library, the community membership passes have been borrowed a total of 110 times from the 10 libraries in the scheme since it launched last month, quickly becoming the most borrowed item.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house itself is so opulent and beautiful,\u201d Kate said. \u201cFor me, the best bit was walking around places that you recognise from TV and film adaptations. I felt like I\u2019d been there before because I\u2019d seen it on screen. Standing next to the statues, seeing inside the rooms, it was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trust hopes the pass could become a model for widening access to heritage sites across the country. Photograph: Raymond Boswell\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Alongside the historical interiors, Kate loved the House of Stories: Tales from Chatsworth Library, an exhibition featuring rare books, manuscripts and letters. \u201cThere\u2019s also a letter from Charles Dickens. It was really lovely,\u201d she said. \u201cI was dragging my family back saying: \u2018Look, this is really important.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Chatsworth House Trust hopes the library pass could become a model for widening access to heritage sites across the country. \u201cMaking these kinds of places a bit more accessible is such a great idea,\u201d she said. \u201cRather than saying: \u2018It\u2019s a free day, everybody come,\u2019 and then it\u2019s chaos because it\u2019s too busy, a borrow scheme means it\u2019s just an ordinary day. You can pick the day, plan your own visit and go when you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cEverybody who joins the queue gets a turn, which is brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Alan Graves, the leader of Derbyshire county council, said the authority was \u201cextremely proud\u201d to partner with Chatsworth on what he described as an \u201cinnovative pilot programme\u201d that would help residents who \u201cmight not otherwise get the opportunity to enjoy all that Chatsworth has to offer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kate said: \u201cMy kids are teenagers now and it\u2019s not easy to find an activity that we all want to do together. But we had a really great day together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got loads of lovely memories and photos of us all wandering about in the sunshine, in beautiful gardens, having a little picnic. They\u2019re the kind of things my kids will really remember when they\u2019re older.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Kate, a 47-year-old contract worker came face to face with Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s handwriting while visiting Chatsworth House,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-689235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}