The Distancing Diaries - 16th & 17th December, 2020

As forecast, Wednesday brought gale force winds and torrential rain. The lads were back from their investigations of the garden within minutes and went straight back to bed leaving me and the Wii Fit to ourselves. As we were running low on fruit we had porridge with blueberries for breakfast. Jon did a post office run, calling in at Morrison's on the way back while I crocheted in the lounge.

WEDNESDAY: Me-made blouse, vintage Phool midi skirt & original '70s purple suede platforms.

Lunch was a cheese and onion pasty for me and a steak one for Jon. We'd just finished eating them when the delivery driver arrived with our new loo seat which Jon fitted straight away.

That's better! I loved the aged effect of this wooden seat, much more us.

How times have changed. A few months ago I'd write posts about selling vintage clothing to rock gods or regale you with tales of our adventures off the beaten track in India. Now I'm excited about a toilet seat. Oh Covid, what have you done to me?

Jon's back had been playing up all day so he retired to the settee with Stephen and some sci fi. Meanwhile, I wasn't happy with my crochet so unraveled it, repotted a few house plants and did some virtual Xmas present shopping from an antique & salvage website I'd been drooling over for a while.

Tea was roasted vegetables with haloumi followed by an evening of rum, the superb series finale of The Twelve and a Salvage Hunters we hadn't seen before, where they visited Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter & The Black Country.

On Thursday after my Wii Fit session and breakfast, Jon made sandwiches and we headed off for our weekly National Trust adventure, our destination being the stunning Calke Abbey in Derbyshire.

The site was an Augustine priory until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. The present building, named Calke Abbey in 1808, was never actually an abbey but a baroque mansion built between 1701 and 1704.

The estate was bought in 1622 by Henry Harpur, a successful lawyer. The estate was rebuilt by a descendant, Sir John Harpur, around the existing Elizabethan manor house that stood on the site. The house and estate were owned by successive Harpur baronets until crippling death duties led to the estate being transferred to the National Trust in 1985.

Following the ethos of Repair not Restore, Calke Abbey is presented by the National Trust as an illustration of the English country house in decline. A massive amount of remedial work, but no restoration, has been done and interiors are almost as they were found in 1985, so the decay of the building and its interiors has been halted but not reversed. Before the National Trust's work of the late 1980s everything had remained untouched since the 1880s.

The National Trust refer to Calke Abbey as the Un-Stately Home.

WEARING: Scotch & Soda overcoat & orange wool hat (both charity shopped), Levis jeans (eBay), Clarks' walking boots ( retail buy), wool hand loom scarf (FabIndia, Jodphur) 

Set in a national nature reserve, Calke Abbey is home to roaming red and fallow deer, and we were excited to spot a few enjoying the sunshine - two herds of deer in less than a week!  

The Harpur family amassed many treasures over their 450 year residency and very little was thrown away. Visitors are invited to peep through the windows of both the house and the outbuildings and drool over the heaps of abandoned antiques and ephemera. I can't wait for restrictions to be lifted so we can actually go inside and see them close up. 

Faded grandeur, elegant decay and sunshine? Our three favourite things! After such bleak weather yesterday, today was one of those gloriously life-affirming days when you're glad to be alive, although the low winter sunshine isn't a girl's friend when it comes to taking photos. 

 

I'm so glad I Googled "National Trust properties near me in Tier 3" instead of relying on the guidebook. I wouldn't have thought of searching the Derbyshire chapter as it's such a vast county but Ticknall, the village where Calke Abbey is situated, is just 45 minutes away and, as it doesn't involve driving through any lower tier areas, didn't break any Covid rules. Phew!

Unusually the glasshouses were open so, of course, we had to explore them. The National Trust have stayed true to the original planting schemes, only using the same plants as the natural history mad Harpur Crewe's did in the 19th Century.

The Physic Garden is where all the fruit and veg for the family were grown. Again, the National Trust have only planted what was originally there. 

The subterranean Ice House was dank, dark and full of cobwebs but marvelously atmospheric.

The algae in The Grotto (built in 1809) was almost nuclear in colour! It was roped off to the public but a sign encouraged visitors to take a peep, so we did.

The orangery stole our hearts, the cracked plaster walls reminded us of our bathroom and it was wonderful to wander around tropical species of plants we'd normally only find in India. 

Can I move in?

I know I must say it all the time but we absolutely loved Calke Abbey, it's gone straight into our all-time top National Trust places ever and we haven't even set foot in the house. 

WEARING: Vintage Phool dress (Second to None), vintage Phool quilted jacket (IG sale), Reiss hat (eBay), Ilse Jacobsen rubber boots (retail buy), 1960s Wetherall of Bond Street wool cape (charity shop, 2001), wrist warmers (handmade by Liz)

After our usual car picnic of cheese & pickle sandwiches, mugs of tea and 6Music we drove back to Walsall and spent the afternoon doing very little indeed until teatime, which was pizza with salad. 

Stay safe and see you soon! 

PS I took far too many photos today, there's more HERE if you can bear it!