Liz Todd takes a stroll - and a paddle - around the beautiful gardens at Chatsworth.

IMMACULATE gardens seem to be the in thing at the moment, with green-fingered makeovers on our television screens and a host of "how to" books lining the shelves. But it's not the end of the world for those of us without a patch of lawn to call our own - we just need to adopt someone else's. Given the choice I decided to aim high, and opted for a day out at Chatsworth House and Gardens in the Peak District.

It takes more than an hour to drive there, but once you arrive it feels as if you're stepping back in time. We turned up on an unexpectedly warm day, so a gentle stroll across rolling lawns laid out by Capability Brown was in order to unwind after a tiring week at work.

Chatsworth's grounds are surprisingly big so, with the help of a very handy guidebook, we began navigating our way round.

The kitchen garden was in regimental order as we toured through it, with a fascinating network of water troughs and mini canals designed to irrigate all of the fruits and vegetables used in the big house.

It was onward and upward to the Grotto Pond as we explored further afield.

Modern day water features don't come close to what Chatsworth has to offer, with eight ponds, a beautifully planned-out cascade stretching down to the house, and an enormous 290ft Emperor Fountain.

There is a complicated water feature called Revelation, and even a metal squirting tree, although romantics may like to think it looks more like a weeping willow.

The rectangular lake looked a bit murky, and the spray from the fountain was quite fierce, but cooling off with a paddle in the cascade seemed just the ticket.

Inside the house, Chatsworth offers a children's trail guide for pint-sized visitors. I may have been the oldest visitor with one, but I proudly clutched it and wowed my companion with perhaps the most succinct tour ever undertaken.

We felt a bit like Loyd Grossman as we wandered round, wondering what kind of a person would live here.

Chatsworth is beautifully decorated and filled with the kind of antiques most people wouldn't dare breathe on.

But my favourite bit had to be the most amazing sculpture of an enormous left foot which was part of a Greek statue thought to be 2,000 years old.

The sun broke through clouds and we decided to have one last look at Chatsworth's cottage garden. It was reassuring to see the haphazard plants and carefully-planned air of untidy abandon. Even I could manage that.

Fact file

How to get there: take the A64 towards Leeds and join with the southbound M1. Follow the signs to Chatsworth from junction 29, along the A617 through Chesterfield and then the A619 signposted towards Bakewell.

Open seven days a week until December 22 from 11am, with last entry at 4.30pm.

Entry to house and gardens inclusive costs £8 for adults, £6.50 for over-60s and £3 for children aged five to 16. Parking costs £1.

Tel 01246 582204.

Updated: 08:37 Saturday, September 21, 2002