RRS: Calke Abbey Orangery

Both smarter and shabbier in large.
Back blip

We had some time off before the evening's concert at St. Peter's (Copt Oak), so visited Calke Abbey, a National Trust property that they describe as an "Unstately home", since they've preserved it in the state that it was in when it was left to the trust rather than restoring it to pristine stateliness. I found it much more interesting than many of the lavishly restored/preserved ones, and the family were avid collectors so many of the house's rooms were full of display cases of rocks, shells, taxidermy animals, amongst many other things. Gawd, there were cases of birds everywhere (including in "the saloon", "the yellow room", and this other room...). 

Other RRS shots can be found here.
I've uploaded a whole load of Calke Abbey shots to Flickr (right from here).
Highlights:
Luxury stables
Characterful potting shed
Creepy corridor
Service stairs