IT’S a bleak mid-winter’s day when I arrive at Calke Abbey.
A sea of black clouds hang heavily above as I make my way down the mile-and-ahalf- long drive to the main house.
The imposing columned residence of the once prosperous Harpur Crewe family comes into view through the icy rain.
I peer through one of the large sash windows on my way to the entrance of the house and see a long-forgotten Christmas scene set up as it would have been when a family lived there.
It seems as though I am looking into someone’s home and any minute now a child is going to come in and jump on the old rocking horse that sits in the middle of the room.
I dash into the shelter of the main hallway, and immediately have the sensation that I am being watched.
A collection of ominous horned beasts decorate the room. The heads of the park’s prized long-horn cattle stare out, glassy-eyed, from every angle.
I become aware of music being played and my attention is drawn to a side room, where I am once again met with the faces of dead animals, stuffed and in display cabinets.
A faded-looking fox bares its teeth at me from behind a panel of glass.
The practice of taxidermy seems odd now, but in days gone by it was all the rage, with pieces such as these fetching a fair price.
My guide, assistant house manager Yanni Simpson, informs me that many of the pieces in the room were done by Thomas Gunn, a famous Derby taxidermist, who had the Royal family among his list of customers.
“We have set the scene with the theme of 30s and 40s,” Yanni tells me.
“All the Christmas cards in here are original to the family and the china is as well.”
When the National Trust was handed the property in 1985 by Henry Harpur Crewe (pictured inset) it was stuffed with artefacts from the 10th baronet, Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe, who was a renowned collector.
“If he didn’t have it, he would buy it,” Yanni says.
The baronet’s interest spanned from taxidermy to butterflies and birds’ eggs.
“We’ve got so much in store because birds’ eggs are quite a sensitive subject,” she says.
“We have great auk eggs. We have even got a plaster cast of a dodo’s head.”
As we go deeper into the house, along the servants’ passageway, we begin to see some of the peeling paint and cracks in the plaster that have become a feature of the house.
Calke Abbey was considered to be old-fashioned by a lot of the servants who worked there - in fact it only got electricity in the 1960s.
When the trust took over the property, it decided that rather than restore it to its former glory, it would leave the dilapidated stately home as it was in tribute to the decline of great houses in the 20th century.
On the first floor we come to the room which houses a piece of furniture that is the jewel in the ageing property’s crown — the state bed.
The imposing piece of furniture dates back to the 1700s and its sheets are made from exquisite Chinese silk.
The bed was a gift from William of Orange and Princess Anne upon the wedding of Lady Caroline Manners to Sir Henry Harpur in 1734.
Lady Manners had been maid of honour at the royal couple’s wedding prior to that.
Despite its finery, the bed is thought to have never been used.
It was discovered packed away in boxes when the trust took over the property.
Now it is kept in an environmentally controlled glass cabinet in a bid to preserve it.
A trip downstairs takes us to the kitchen, which proved a nightmare for many cooks over the years who considered it old-fashioned.
Fay Riele, who has been a volunteer at Calke for 22 years, sums up Calke Abbey neatly, saying: “We’re not a stately home, we’re a home in a state — but very interesting”
Originally designed to be the chapel, the seventh baronet, Sir Henry Harpur, decided to put the kitchen there instead.
He was also known as the ‘isolated baronet’.
Fay explains: “He was a recluse and he married a lady’s maid, which was frowned on.
“She was his mistress and she became pregnant so he married her.” The baronet was so anti-social he was known to use notes to communicate with his wife and children.
As I stand in the cavernous room, eerie noises seem to be resonating from the walls.
Recorded sounds of a working kitchen are being played in order to bring the old place to life for visitors.
The grand house was built on the site of a priory, which one of the properties lost to the Catholic Church during the dissolution of the monasteries, when King Henry VIII took over church lands and founded the Church of England.
The original house mirrored the priory’s layout with a central square.
The house was completed in a baroque style in 1704 for Sir John Harpur.
The family became wealthy through land and good marriage.
“They started as solicitors, which was quite a highly regarded job in the 1700s,” Yanni says.
“They bought the baronetcy, which gives you a leg up in society.
“They were related to most of the affluent and well landed people in the area.”
The eventual downfall of the property came about because there were not enough heirs to take over the running of it.
“This is how country houses fall apart,” Yanni explains.
“There was the characteristic isolation of the family as well.
“It seems to have been a trait — they weren’t really into the conventional social life.”
By the time the house came into the hands of Henry Harpur Crewe, he was living in an apartment within its walls and had no servants.
Four years after taking over the property, the trust opened it up as an attraction — giving curious members of the public a glimpse of its previously unseen splendour.
Further information about Calke Abbey is available by visiting www.nationaltrust.org.uk.
