UK Chair Caning Tour, Part 1: Liverpool to Chatsworth House

Part 1 of 5: Liverpool to Chatsworth House: in which I have fortuitous experiences with a fox, red squirrels, and driving on the left to a stately country home featuring a chair exhibit.

I set up a google alert for chairs after our Extreme Chair Nerd Weekend in Winston-Salem and struck gold at the beginning of last year when I read that Chatsworth House was hosting “Make Yourself Comfortable,” a contemporary chair exhibit where you can actually sit on most of the pieces in the exhibit. This was the impetus for the UK Chair Caning Tour and it did not disappoint.

I landed in Liverpool, UK and stayed with some very kind folks just north of town in Formby, where an expansive beach and a nature preserve (featuring red squirrels) was just a few minutes walk down the road. It was a great welcome to the UK. I used the scenery as a stalling tactic when I was about to drive, by myself, on the left side of the road, for the first time on my way to Chatsworth House and Full Grown Farm, a chair ORCHARD (featured in part 2).

Here are the highlights, and by highlights, I mean the caned chairs that were neglected in the above youtube video (for shame!):

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If you had a dinner party, and could invite anyone, living or dead, who would you invite? The tablecloth was filled with the results of this survey. Very cool.