Awards and citations:


1997: Le Prix du Champagne Lanson Noble Cuvée Award for investigations into Champagne for the Millennium investment scams

2001: Le Prix Champagne Lanson Ivory Award for investdrinks.org

2011: Vindic d'Or MMXI – 'Meilleur blog anti-1855'

2011: Robert M. Parker, Jnr: ‘This blogger...’:

2012: Born Digital Wine Awards: No Pay No Jay – best investigative wine story

2012: International Wine Challenge – Personality of the Year Award




Saturday 3 December 2011

A visit to Calke Abbey

Calke Abbey, the heart of family estate that once spanned 58,000 acres (23,967 hectares)

This afternoon we spent a couple of hours visiting Calke Abbey. The mansion is usually closed to the public at this time of year but today there were a few rooms open. The house has been preserved in its faded state from the early to mid part of the 20th century as the National Trust website explains:

'With peeling paintwork and overgrown courtyards Calke Abbey tells the story of the dramatic decline of a grand country-house estate. The house and stables are little restored, with many abandoned areas vividly portraying a period in the 20th century when numerous country houses did not survive to tell their story.'

I thought the mansion was very depressing and dreary, although some of the fine rooms were not open.




Glimpse of the house through the trees


State bed

Waste not Want not: sign in kitchen


Elaborate drainpipe


An abandoned tank

Setting sun on the trees and gravestones


The Harpur-Crewe family church

Setting sun amongst the estate's trees (above and below)










1 comment:

Emile de Bruijn said...

Jim, why did you think the house was depressing? The interiors themselves, or the way they were shown? I am just curious as to how people experience NT houses.