Bluebells, wisteria, and apple blossom at Calke

The end of April continued warm and sunny, and bluebells were already flowering, so off to Calke we went to explore.

The Serpentine Wood is the place to find Calke's bluebells, and is best, in my opinion, approached from the 'Calke Explore' playground area as the flowers face that direction and appear bluer. So we stopped at the car park there, and headed straight for the higher part of the wood where the bluebells grow. It possible to walk from the main car park at Calke but we thought our route might be shorter - I'm not actually sure that it was.

A walk in woodland is lovely at any time of year but it's particularly beautiful when the ground is carpeted with bluebells.

The second part of our day was spent in the walled garden where the wisteria was flowering and the orchard in blossom.

We were a little early for the full display of wisteria but the sun-facing walls were covered with purple racemes. I don't think there's anything quite as lovely as wisteria cascading down a wall.

Through the doorway the lavender-edged path leads through the kitchen garden to the orchard - a gorgeous place to sit in the sunshine, especially at this time of year with the trees in blossom.

 

Snowdrop adventures - Calke

I love spotting the first snowdrops - always anxiously watching for the early signs in my garden, and visiting as many local gardens and woodland as possible. A sunny day towards the end of January seemed like an ideal time to head out on the first of hopefully many snowdrop adventures. I wasn't sure how open they'd be yet ( my garden snowdrops are still a way from full flower) but being National Trust members there's no extra charge to go to Calke several times.

As it was, although they weren't at their fullest, there were still a lot of snowdrops to be found - under the trees, in the auricula theatre, on the walk up to the church.

There are just snowdrops to be seen though - the witch hazels were cheering up the woodland walks -

and in front the house was a different sort of attraction - sheep! They're not usually seen here but were doing a good job of keeping the grass mown.

Back at the cafe, with about five minutes to spare before closing, there was tea and cakes, and on the way home an amazing red sunset.

 

December

December is always a busy month - more so than usual I think this year with visits to Christmas markets and decorated stately homes, followed by the inevitable shopping and cooking.

We started at Haddon Hall, continued at Calke Abbey and Kedleston Hall, then returned to Chatsworth which we'd already visited in November for the market, but this time to see inside the house.

In between all these trips, I tried to keep up my daily walking (not easy with damp weather and dark evenings), and, very exciting, we had a new front door fitted (a sort of Christmas present to ourselves)

Christmas itself was busy and fun-filled with two full dinners  - one with turkey (though it's missing from the photo) and one with a vegan roast. My grandson's birthday falls in the immediate post-Christmas period so involves another family party - this time with burgers and cake, as he was allowed to choose the food.

The days just after Christmas were shrouded in mist so instead of a walk outside we settled for another inside visit to Kedleston

Kedleston in the mist

 

Christmas at Calke - market, house, garden and tunnels!

Next stop on the Christmas Lights trail was Calke Abbey.

It was a visit of several parts. First, because of the last entry time, we went round the house - with several decorated trees and mice (fortunately the stuffed toy variety) playing in the kitchen - and through the tunnels which lead back to the wash house in the stableyard. I'm not one for enclosed spaces but with strings of lights and illuminated displays I didn't really notice any difference to walking along a corridor (though the steep steps at the end were a little troublesome) In the wash house a model choir was waiting to welcome us.

As it was still daylight, our next stop was the Christmas market followed by tea and cake from the cafe.

Then as darkness descended we headed up into the gardens following the illuminated trail

It's always magical to find a path of lights leading through woodland, and this was no exception. Projections of wild animals onto trunks led the way deeper among the trees, and eventually to a tunnel of lights which returned towards the hall.

Calke Abbey itself sits in a dip between stableyard and gardens, with a slight hill in either directio and the route through the tunnels seemed the more gradual gradient to return to the exit.

I'm pleased we chose this way as the lights in the courtyard were mush more impressive in the dark. The steps up to the laundry seemed far steeper though!