Delightful Derbyshire - 28th - 30th June 2024

Seven go to Calke Abbey - Bracken, Pizza and Sunshine

Starring: Jenny, Ally, Denise, Mary, Sarah and Neil with a cameo from Chris M

Guest Starring: Ranger Vicky

It takes a lot of planning to organise a weekend and with work not confirming my shift swap until a month before, I couldn't confirm if I was able to lead the weekend so I was very glad when Jenny said she would. With it being her first time leading a weekend it took some reassurance and advice from Myself to get the weekend off the ground, I had every faith in her.

My journey started at 9.00am with a bus trip to the station and then a 4hr 20 train journey from Edinburgh to Derby, meeting Jenny, we picked up the click and collect from Sainsburys Derby and then made our way to our Basecamp on the Calke Abbey Estate. Mary had already arrived but had decided to wait before unloading her luggage including 6 bottles of wine, apparently she takes 6 bottles on every NT working holiday she attends, long or short.

Shortly after our arrival Sarah and Neil arrived. With all our beds made and pyjamas out we decided to try the local watering hole, which is also a microbrewery, the Milking Parlour is owned by The Tollgate Brewery, tenants of the Calke Estate. As it was a lovely sunny and warm evening it was suggested we walk, Jenny offered to drive so she and Mary travelled there by car. As I had been sat on a train for a while Sarah, Neil and Myself decided to walk, using a map and working out where the right path was. We walked for about 30 mins to the pub. Neil didn't trust the women to get him there safe and sound, so he asked two men the way, one knew the way one didn't. Upon arrival we joined Mary and Jenny in the sunshine, Sarah wanted to try all the beers, for a forthcoming beer Festival she was helping to organise. Jenny returned to Basecamp with Mary to prep the evening meal. She returned later to pick the rest of us up, upon arrival back at Basecamp, we enjoyed homemade pizza with Salad and Garlic bread. As we were eating Denise joined us and our party was complete. She also partook in Pizza. We had enough pizza to feed an army. After food we sat outside and chatted and caught up on news, then went to bed.

The Basecamp

When I first made contact about another weekend at Calke Abbey it was because Vicky Naylor who use to work at Styal had got in touch to say she had moved locations. I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to see Her and Calke Abbey again. On Saturday Vicky arrived just before 9am and informed us that we would be travelling to Carvers Rocks Nature Reserve which is just outside the Calke Estate, it has recently been taken over by the National Trust and Vicky is heading up the team there.

Being a volunteer you get to go behind the scenes or through private gates and this was one of those occasions, with 3 vehicles making the journey we went through a pretty nondescript gate which, unless looking for it I think you would probably not see it. Passing through the gate we drove along the road to a carpark which I think probably used to be a well used car park as it had benches and picnic tables alongside it. Having dropped two vehicles there, Vicky took her vehicle back along the road to a pedestrian gate which lead along walking tracks around the reserve. We took the path for some distance and up onto the heathland. Vicky and the team are wanting to get rid of the Bracken but due to the heather being there couldn’t come along with machinery until the area around the heather had been cleared. We were having to pull out the bracken, this although hard work was actually quite a satisfying task because you could see how much you had done. It did involve a lot of bending or crouching and some folk decided to either sit on the floor or their sit stool they had bought with them, with differing levels of success. Denise managed to somersault off her stool it was so elegantly executed that she could have won a gymnastics gold medal at the Olympic games! At Coffee time we enjoyed Jennys Chocolate Brownies and Bakewell Slice. There was one large area of heather and after Elevenses the majority of the group worked on that. Whether we got all the heather exposed is unknown as it just kept appearing.

We called a halt to this area at Lunchtime, by now it was getting quite hot and with no tree in the right area to shelter under we moved to the second area and enjoyed our lunch of pizza in the cooler air. It was at this stage that member Chris who has recently moved to the Derbyshire from the Liverpool Area joined us. With the Trust only recently taking over the site and it being a lovely day Vicky decided that a litter pick was needed so Chris was joined by Jenny for the said pick along the shore of the Reservoir that makes up part of the nature reserve. The rest of us started on this new area which the machinery would not be able to reach. We had been informed that at some stage in the near future the trust were hoping to get Ponies for the area so we were giving the ponies a helping hand. At 3.15 we called it a day and headed back to the carpark, some went back to the basecamp and another car load went to the aforementioned pub. When the pub goers returned we found preparations for dinner in full swing, Chris was chopping strawberries into very small pieces, Jenny was mixing them into whipped cream to pipe into homemade profiteroles - what an extravagance. Mary was on wine duty and we were all offered a glass of wine as we stepped in the door, something told Me she didn’t want to go home with the 6 bottles she had brought with her. We all enjoyed a hot shower and some partook in a lie down out of the warm air. Prior to the weekend Jenny had sent out an email giving us the choice of what we would like to eat so that evening we dined on the most popular choice, Roast Chicken with potatoes and vegetables. We also enjoyed the profiteroles. We did think about going to explore the estate but we decided to stay put and enjoy the company of each other and being able to sit outside. We were all tired after our day so we headed for bed.

The Milking Parlour Beer Garden

Clearing Bracken from round the Heather

Sunday again dawned warm but cloudy. Neil was early to rise and early to leave, Denise and Sarah missed his departure. We ate a breakfast of Cereals with fruit and yogurt and bacon sandwiches. Mary left after breakfast with all 6 bottles of wine. Jenny, Denise, Sarah and Myself, aching from the day before, went to visit the Abbey gaining access to the gardens through the staff entrance. On our way there we came across a gardener working on the tractor and some wooden musical instruments. He let us have a go on them. Once in the garden we admired the sweet peas and the apple trees. We eventually found our way to the house via the shop and the admissions kiosk. Calke Abbey is advertised on the NT Website as “A visit to Calke Abbey, like so many National Trust places, is a step back in time. But Calke is not presented like other country houses of its day. Paintwork is fading and peeling; vast collections of personal belongings are left as they were found.” It’s not wrong, it’s stuffed full of objects some of which were broken. And yes it did feel a little unloved. We returned to basecamp for lunch and then did a last tidy up and headed for home.

The Abbey

The Wooden Instruments

My thanks goes to Jenny for leading the weekend and picking me up from the station.

I look forward to seeing you all at Christmas in Cymru (Snowdonia) - Friday 6th to Sunday 8th December

Ally

In the Gardens at Calke Abbey