National Trust - Calke Abbey

This house is so different from any other National trust property I have visited. It really has been frozen in time with fascinating collections. The volunteers were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable and lovely to talk to. There are walks, deer, lambs, a walled garden, church and tunnels to explore. The cafe & restaurant are good too. A brilliant day out.

Lovely day out with kids. Very dog friendly and accessible (apart from the actual house). The house is definitely worth seeing and staff are engaging, knowledgeable and happy to answer questions (even from children who have hundreds of questions). The gardens are beautiful. There's guided tours available and you could spend hours exploring the grounds.

We often visit to walk round part of the grounds. The park and gardens are lovely at anytime of the year, with a wonderful relaxing atmosphere. There are various marked walks of different lengths to explore. The house itself is worth a visit too, in addition to exploring the old farm buildings and tunnels.
We cannot visit Calke Abbey without having lunch in the excellent National Trust cafe/restaurant, with plenty indoor and outdoor seating areas.
On today's visit we had the added bonus of a visiting group of Rolls Royce owners.

The gardens are beautiful at the moment, we went for a picnic with friends. We used the table and chairs in the walled gardens. I wish they had food and drink facilities in the gardens. It's a long walk back to the stables for little legs. We took our 4yr old and 5 month old baby. The paths are easy to negotiate with a pram, we also fitted down the gardener's tunnel. The walk can be a little steep down to the house and up to the gardens. For those that struggle there is a golf buggy that will take you.
There is also a lovely little playing ground.
Lots of nature and animals for kids to see, the deer are never far away and the driveway has sheep. We are trust members and come regularly.
They have some lovely craft fayres in the stables some weekends.

This National Trust property is the most local to me and yet I do not visit it often enough. It is a large estate with parkland, walled/kitchen garden, deer park and pleasure garden with many areas to discover. There are various trails of varying lengths to explore as well as the Abbey itself which is a great period property showing the challenges faced with the financial upkeep of such a property.

A great property to visit... even just for the exercise the varied trails offer.

Beautiful house, grounds for extensive walking or cycling and formal walled and kitchen gardens. The restaurant, with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and shop are good too. There is a children's playground close to the restaurant area and also an interesting Garden of Imagination for youngsters. There's plenty to entertain all ages here!

A really interesting view into how stately homes declined, but not just that, the crazy amount of stuff that the family accumulated and the vastness off the original estate is almost unbelievable. It's a real mix of faded glory and history. Well worth a visit. Allow a few hours to enjoy the gardens and, weather allowing, some of the walking trails.

This is a brilliant place. Love the honest interiors where everything is left where they found it. Lots of knowledgeable staff around to answer questions. Good places to eat. Lots of indoor and outdoor seating including well sheltered outdoor seating. A very photogenic place and that was before getting to the gardens. This time of year has the highly popular dahlia avenue which was positively bursting with colour. Fun tunnels everywhere to keep the children entertained. Loads of parking. We didn’t realise but ended up going at half term which meant it was extremely busy. Lots of sheep and lovely long horned cattle.