Thursday 2nd October saw the funeral of the dowager Duchess of Devonshire. I was collected from our Bolehill Cottages near Bakewell (see here) by one of my cleaners and her family so we could get to Edensor early.  We parked at Pilsley before walking into Edensor as the road through the estate was being closed from 10 until 2 for the funeral procession.  Got to Edensor just after 10am and there were  seats set out and three big TV screens as well as a book of condolence and tea and coffee.  The cleaners son is from Pilsley school and the school children were going to line a part of the route from the house to the church with other estate staff.  While we were waiting I saw one of our regular guests who had made the journey especially for the funeral.  He told me he had contacted the house and they had laid on first class transport from London to Chesterfield for him and others who had expressed a wish to attend the funeral and then bussed them from the station to the church.  The green by the church filled up quickly and I soon joined the those by the road side waiting for the cortège.  The church bell started tolling as the cortège left Chatsworth and it was half an hour before it came in sight.  Suddenly there was a pouring of people over the hill (they had watched the procession leave Chatsworth first) and soon there were plenty of people lining the route.  As the cortège passed I was surprised to see Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall behind the Duke.  There had been rumours he would attend.  After the cortège and family there were the estate workers in their respective uniforms and after all the staff had gone through the Edensor gates we followed on.  Standing room only for the short service and after the committal we all walked back to the house where refreshments were laid on.  I thought there was just going to be tea and cake but we were greeted with a glass of champagne and sandwiches and cakes and a jazz band.  The sun came out and there was a lovely atmosphere.  As we sat down in the shade by the terrace we realised that Charles and Camilla were near by chatting to the Duke and guests.  We thought they would go somewhere private but they were happy chatting to everyone and we managed to get Charles to shake hands with my cleaners son!  The bodyguards were always close by but were friendly  and we chatted to some of them and I also chatted to a reporter from the Daily Express.  He took my details but I never saw anything published.  Chris came and picked us up mid afternoon.  Didn’t need to worry about cooking tea as we had tickets for the Harvest Supper at the Village Hall.  We went with Andrew and Joanna and the hall was full with villagers and locals and we caught up with people we hadn’t seen for a while.  It was a lovely way to finish a memorable day.  Here are the photos.