"Hardwick Hall- more glass than wall"- this aphorism describes the fine Elizabethan house built by the remarkable Elizabethan matriarch Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, who amassed a fortune second only to the Queen from relatively modest beginnings by marrying four times and outliving each husband! Born in Hardwick, she also built the original Chatsworth whilst married to Sir William Cavendish and their offspring were the ancestors of the current line of the Dukes of Devonshire; indeed they owned Hardwick until it was given to the National Trust to help pay Inheritance Tax. Bess moved into Hardwick New Hall on her 70th Birthday, and the house reflects her wealth, tastes and astute purchasing- she obtained a set of tapestries from the son of Sir Christopher Hatton at a knock-down price, forced to sell off Holdenby House to pay his late father's debts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwick_Hall