Calke Abbey

Warmest day of the year so far.  We were continuing our visits to National Trust properties in the Midlands area.

A quite fascinating estate, highlights for me was the brewery tunnels that stretch from underneath the main house up to the stable yards.  There, wine was stored and (yes, you guessed it) beer was brewed.  It was quite incredible how long the tunnel was, hewn out of the sandstone of the area.  
What we felt was most bizarre and sad to see was the incredible collection of stuffed animals.  Room after room had display cabinets with all manner of birds, and other wildlife.  One of the guides suggested that what we saw was only about half of the original collection.  The former owners were prodigious collectors and in some rooms the collection hadn't even been removed from the cases originally used to send them to the house.

This was a house still showing the ravages of time in many of the rooms, with peeling wallpaper, damaged walls and woodwork. Many such houses have been demolished in years past, because of the massive death duties they were subject to, when the inheritance of an estate came about.

We finished the visit in the gardens and even bought some rhubarb to cook from the walled area.