Calke Abbey - the unstately stately home

Out to Calke Abbey again! As we didn't have time on last week's visit, I wanted to go back and see the gardens.

Calke's often described as an 'unstately stately home', and with wildflower lawns, swallows whizzing over the gardens and deer contentedly grazing it certainly feels that way. 

It's a bit like stumbling on an old crumbling mansion out of a fairytale, hidden away in the wood. Nature tries its best to take over the buildings, climbing up doors and sneaking along the bottoms of walls.The National Trust generally have a hands off approach to maintenance here - things are kept safe but not restored to their original splendour.

And - apart from the kitchen garden where scarecrows keep a sharp eye on things - the gardens are kept in a style which suggests they're left to themselves. 

While palm trees add a touch of the exotic, roses, clematis and wisteria run riot over walls and gateways, and herbaceous plants spring back in a wonderful riot of shape and colour every year without assistance. I suspect this isn't quite a true vision of the gardener's work and that a lot of attention is needed to create this casual, unmanicured look.

Similarly the orangery has had its domed glass roof repaired, but the paint and plaster are still crumbling from the inside walls. We didn't go inside this time, but stayed outside watching swallows darting back and forth above the long grass. 

There's a little more order in the productive kitchen garden.

While this area is mostly given over to vegetables and fruit, there are still lots of flowers for colour and scent, and some are working hard at pest management - encouraging beneficial insects in, and discouraging the bad ones.

Leaving the walled gardens behind, we stumbled across some of Calke's inhabitants - its deer. They're often to be seen in this area but this time they were not only close to the fence, but didn't run off as we approached. 

I felt almost able to reach out and touch their velvety antlers - it wouldn't have been wise -they aren't tame animals in a petting zoo - but seeing them close was magical.

Walking back from the gardens the house is approached through a wild flower meadow with butterflies fluttering about. Apart from the mown path, it really does look like a forgotten country house lost in time.