Marystephanie and I were anxious to start our walking tour, in spite of the fact that Great Britain was in the middle of a major heat wave. We took an Uber to Euston Station for our train ride to Derby.

Upon reaching our station, we were met by our tour guide Christopher and our angel of mercy Sophie, whose job it was to make sure that we were all kept upright and happy during our walks.

There were fifteen of us on the tour and after some brief introductions, we set off by coach for our first country house—Kedleston Hall. Not many villages are moved to make room for a mansion, but the town of Kedleston was relocated in 1759 by Nathaniel Curzon so he could build his impressive home.

Although the sun pounded down on us, our first walk wasn’t too strenuous, and we were soon in sight of Kedleston Hall. We Americans on the tour were surprised to be walking through knee-high grasses, given our caution about ticks, but apparently, they aren’t a concern in Derbyshire.

Inside this English country house, we wandered through the huge Marble Hall, making our way around the adjoining rooms. The piece that caught my eye was the full-length portrait of Mary Curzon, the Baroness of Kedleston Hall and Vicereine of India from 1899-1905, who was painted in her famous Peacock Dress. Mary was one of the group of American heiresses who married men in the English aristocracy during the Gilded Age. Mary’s father was Levi Leiter, one of the founders of the Marshall Field & Company in Chicago. The Brits were only too happy to wed these beauties and have access to the resources that would enable them to maintain their way of life. Mary was introduced to London society in 1880, met Lord Curzon, and fell in love. Their union produced three daughters, but alas, no sons.

Mary’s charm, good breeding, and education helped Lord Curzon’s career, and he was named Viceroy of India in 1899 during the British Raj. Once there, she became an advocate for Indian art, materials, and craftspeople and commissioned her famous Peacock dress from fabric created by Indian artisans and designed by the House of Worth in Paris. The dress was made of fabric woven with silver and gold thread in a pattern designed to look like the feathers of a peacock. At the hem of the dress Worth put white fabric roses, and the bodice was adorned with lace. It was a stunner.

This dress was famous in its time and was worn at the Delhi Durbar, which was a ceremony in India celebrating the coronation of a new British monarch. Mary wore it in 1903 to honor King Edward VI and Queen Alexandra on their visit to India.

From Kedleston, we motored back to the village of Bakewell and the Cavendish Hotel, our accommodation for the tour. You can imagine our surprise when we got to our rooms and discovered that, despite the broiling temperatures, our hotel did not have air conditioning. At all. There was a lovely woolen blanket on the end of our bed, apparently for potential chilly nights. But not to despair. We did have a fan. A nice, white, plastic tabletop fan. It even oscillated. Luckily, I grew up in the 1950s and 60s, so I was used to roughing it. A fan would be sufficient. For you see, when there is no choice, there is no problem.