Lyme

Our View

Lyme, on the western edge of the Peak District, is a fine example of the Palladian style, the work of the Italian architect Giacomo Leoni in the 1720s, and famously featured as ‘Pemberley’ in the 1995 BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Darcy, played by Colin Firth, took his famous dip in the lake in front of the house. Lyme, set in a rural idyll of gardens, parkland and moorland, yet only a stone’s throw from metropolitan Stockport, was the home of the Legh family for 600 years. The interior, a mix of Elizabethan and later rooms, houses some remarkable Mortlake tapestries, the Lyme Caxton Missal prayer-book and a nationally-important collection of clocks. If you prefer outdoor attractions to the splendours of the house, you'll enjoy the wildfowl on the lake and the deer on the moorland. The 1,300-acre park has excellent short walks and viewpoints. If you’re lucky, the walk up to the 18th century turreted former hunting tower, known as The Cage, may reward you with a view of the Peak’s largest herd of red deer running freely. Children can let off steam in the Crow Wood Playscape with its giant slide, badger den and rope walks. Photo credits: 1-Andreas von Einsiedel, 2-Emma Williams, 3-Graham Bowerbank, 4-Arnhel de Serra, 5-Robert Morris - all by permission of National Trust Images.