Reviews of Calke Abbey, Derby
Review by National Trust Reviews on 2nd September, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 02/08/2009
This is somewhere that we have wanted to visit for a while and we are pleased we finally got around to it. The house is one of the more unusual National Trust properties as it has been left as it was found when the Trust took over in the 1980's.
The family who once lived here were reluctant to throw anything away and this shows in the amount of items that remain in the house today. The owner collected a huge amount of sea shells, stuffed animals, pebbles and fire equipment (amongst other things). These were displayed in glass cabinets all over the house. After we had toured the house we made our way out via the servants tunnel and cellars which led to the brew house and stable yards. The tunnels were an exciting experience for the children as it was long, dark and damp.
During our visit we participated in a separate conservation tour which explained how the Trust were preserving items in the house. This was particularly interesting as we saw how kitchen utensils were preserved with wax and white spirit. We also saw a bed that had been discovered in crates. This now lies inside a glass box where the correct environment is maintained to preserve it in its present state.
Although we enjoy looking around properties that have been nicely laid out and kept by the National Trust, it was nice to see a property that had been left in it's original form as it was when it was lived in.
We did notice that the room stewards here were friendly and eager to share their knowledge with both us adults and our children (we have noticed in some properties that they will only speak if your standing a little close to a lampshade!).
There is an enormous amount of land that surrounds this property. We were told that the owners owned around 15 miles of land around the house. The land includes walled gardens, extremely old trees and the kitchen gardens where all kinds of fruit and veg were growing.
A short distance from the house is St. Giles Church where more history of the family can be discovered.
We ended the day with a pot of tea and an ice-cream before letting the children have a run around on the recently built playground.
Overall, we were quite shocked of how much this place had to offer and we will certainly be visiting again soon. We have uploaded some of our photo's to the Photo Gallery.
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Review by A Purtill on 26th June, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 2008
Liskeard Carnival is a good afternoon/evening i have been for the past 6 years and am looking forward to going again this year. There is lots to see! the kids can get a bit bored waiting for the procession, but you can as i do wander around. The carnival itself is always pretty good myself and my kids love the bands and the bag pipes, very good playing gives me goose bumps :0) overall a very nice time is had by all and everyone is in a very good mood.
Review by Polly Hale on 22nd June, 2005
Add your review Date visited: Monday 20th June
I went to calke with schooland it is the Wow Facter of Statley homes
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