Derbyshire 20 - Calke Abbey an unstately home and country estate, vegetable crisps and pulled pork lunch

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On a lovely sunny morning we sat and wondered what to do today. Suzy was going nowhere today . She is waiting for a guy to come over in a couple of weeks to add some kind of air suspension to her. Supposedly she will handle better. Going round roundabouts won't result in a fairground ride and the gushes of wind that pull us along when we pass lorries should be a thing of the past. We have read that this improves the drives so time and £500 spent on her will tell. So what to do?

The consensus was to go to to Calke Abbey which is around three quarters of an hour drive from home. Described by the National Trust who own it as an unstately home and country estate. We guessed a little like Erddig our favourite National Trust stately home.

So what did we expect ? The site was described as being an Augustinian priory from the 12th century until its dissolution by King Henry VIII. The present building is a baroque mansion built between 1701 and 1704. So how does that compare with Erddig? Erddig was built a little earlier beween 1684 and 1687. Erddig not quite in the Baroque style. Calke was owned by the Harpur family for nearly 300 years until it was passed to the Trust in 1985 in lieu of death duties . Erddig changed hands a few times. The house was sold to Master of the Chancery John Mellor in 1714 and passed to his nephew Simon Yorke and passed through the Yorke family until March 1973 when the last squire Yorke died without issue. So both houses are similar in their backgrounds. Both houses suffered from neglect through lack of money and in Erddigs case collapse several years earlier of a shaft from the nearby coal mine under the house which caused subsidence of 5 feet which seriously affected the structural security of the house to the extent that, without suitable underpinning, it would have become a ruin.

We arrived early and drove up the long driveway with its large oak trees and very impressive it was too. We parked up on the spacious car park and walked to the ticket office. Before you pay you walk through the old stables again just like Erddig. An impressive collection of brick built utilitarian buildings built over 120 years and house a range of workshops and storerooms. These were the workshops which were integral to the running of a large estate. Inside each building were old discarded workshop machinery which unlike Erddig were not still in use. Everything sadly was quiet and unused. Entrance was free as we are National Trust members. This was where the confusion came in . Opening times were from 12.30 to 5pm when the house opened fully. Before that there were house taster visits from 11 00 to 12.30. I explained badly that I did not like guided tours and wanted to go through the entire house by myself. As it was almost 12 the young girl explained that we could go in at 12 if we wanted to or go in later. She failed to explain that if we went in now we would only see part of the house . So we picked up our tickets and walked to the house. It is impressive from the outside but perhaps not as pretty as Erddig if I am honest. Inside we were greeted and shown into three rooms on the ground floor. The first was filled with stuffed animals and fishes all in boxes on the walls and in cabinets. The second room was a small study and the third the room where conservation took place. The whole visit took us 10 minutes with most time spent talking about the beasties that lived in the carpets and curtains and in the work done on conservation. When we left the volunteers asked if we were going to join them on the tour and it was at this time we realised that we had only seen very little of the house and the rest would have to remain unseen which was a bit disappointing.

So after seeing Erddig and these three rooms what did we think? Disappointed to be honest . We just had not seen the best of the house and Erddig won hands down. Perhaps we will have to go back to see the decaying drawing rooms and bathrooms.

We walked round the walled garden which to be fair was pretty and packed with summer bedding plants and exotic palms. A greenhouse held a collection of ferns and felt warm and muggy. The perennial long border was full of blousy pink and white peonies, single and double roses of all colour and wisteria hanging over the gate entrance.

Lunch was spent in the rather nice restaurant where we ate pulled pork ciabatta rolls with salad from the estate gardens and with vegetable crisps made of parsnip and beetroot. Very nice too sitting on a table full of flowers picked from the garden. The best bit of the trip so far.

I guess we got it wrong and perhaps will have to go again and the next time make sure that we get to see what we missed this time. So where else to go ..................we were on our way to Ashby De La Zouch to see their castle.

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[D MJ Binkley]

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