Video: How they made Chatsworth join the 21st Century

So there would probably have been a smile on the face of William Cavendish, the sixth Duke of Devonshire, had he known that the 200th anniversary of his succession was being marked with the revelation of that most modern of tools – the smartphone “app” – at his former home, Chatsworth.

The stately home near Bakewell, now home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, has launched the app to give visitors a new way to access the wealth of information and history surrounding the estate, which has been home to the Cavendish family since Bess of Hardwick settled there in 1549.

The current Duke, Peregrine Cavendish, said of the development: “Chatsworth has a strong tradition of innovation and the sixth Duke was probably the most innovative of all my predecessors – he had a very modern outlook and was an early supporter of the railways, photography and other wonders of the Victorian age so I’m sure that this would have appealed to him.

“He rejoiced in progress, as demonstrated by his modernisation of Chatsworth, and his character lives on in our determination that we continue to evolve and embrace new ideas and skills, from contemporary art and craft to green energy.

“There is so much to see, to do and to find out about at Chatsworth that it’s a real challenge to get all that information into a format that’s engaging and accessible for young and old alike but I think our team have been very successful.”

The app has a huge number of features, such as interviews with the Duke and Duchess and guides to rooms including the painted hall, the state dining room, the library and chapel.

It takes visitors on an audio-visual tour of the house and also includes an overview of Chatsworth’s development and history, with maps of the house, the Cavendish family tree and an introduction to the estate’s art and sculpture collections.

Chatsworth plans to review its first app release with its visitors and future upgrades are likely to include more interactive tools, a broader range of information and more detail in specialist areas such as art, sculpture or architecture.

Head of marketing at Chatsworth, Sally Hogg, said: “We started using both Facebook and Twitter last year and quite quickly got a really good following.

“Although it tends to be the younger visitors who use the app we get a lot of Chatsworth fans from overseas using it as well.”

The app, Ms Hogg explained, can be used both inside Chatsworth on ipod Touch, known as “itouch” devices, or from smartphones or computers anywhere in the world.

Ten new “iTouch” devices – similar to iPhones but without the capacity to make calls – are now on offer at Chatsworth so visitors can be led around the house using the app.

Ms Hogg said: “We’ve had some fantastic feedback. We started on the first day with 10 iTouch units and, within the first 45 minutes, all of them had gone out.

“One family said at the end of the tour that their 10-year-old son was dreading coming but he had a fantastic time because he could use the iTouch,

“Younger children who might not be that interested in walking around Chatsworth can get a real insight into the house using the new app.”

She added: “We’d been wanting to do a multimedia guide for quite some time. The Duke’s got an iPhone and he likes modern technology, so it was something we all wanted to do.

“What we’re doing now is looking into introducing more of these multimedia guides and expanding the app we already have.

“At the moment it’s only for the house, but we want to look at doing an app for the garden and parkland. It’s early days, but we’ll see how it goes.”

The original innovator at Chatsworth, the sixth Duke of Devonshire, has also entered the digital age himself – with his own page on Facebook.

“He was such an influence on Chatsworth and such an inspirational Duke that we wanted to celebrate his life and times”, Ms Hogg said.

“On the Facebook page we put status updates detailing the key things he did during his time as Duke.

“Things such as the app give people different ways of enojying their time here. They may not want to interact with one of our guides and they may instead want to explore at their own time and their own pace.

“We didn’t particularly want to go out and attract the teenage market, but this has certainly given them more to enjoy when they do come to Chatsworth.

“We’re extremely pleased with the way the app has been received and will be developing it further.”