Captain's Log

Calke Abbey

I’d planned a 10 mile walk at the National Trust’s Calke Abbey. The walk would have taken me around the Estate and then headed westwards to explore Foremark Reservoir.  It was already half-past one though and I’d spent longer than I’d imagined walking around Calke Abbey’s Garden (see NT - Calke Abbey Garden) and House (see NT - Calke Abbey House).  I’d probably tramped a good 5 miles already. An alternative route was in order. As I munched on a vegan sausage roll and then a chocolate brownie at the National Trust’s café, I formulated a new route that would make use of the existing signed trails around the Estate. It would start off on the Purple Walk, then transfer to the Pink, branch off on to the Calke Explore path, before transferring to the Tramway Trail. I’d then take an unsigned route back to the carpark. Admittedly, the above route description isn’t very informative, but suffice to say that it would take in much of what the Calke Abbey Estate had to offer. I gurgled down the last dregs of my coffee, placed my tray in the cafe’s tray stack and trundled off into the afternoon sun, ready and fuelled for action. 

Purple Trail

I soon picked up the sign for the Purple Trail and it took me past the complex of buildings that form the Stables. I’d visited these buildings this morning and found out about Squirt and his amazing offspring. The Stables are free to walk around if you wanted to include them on this walk. The Purple Trail joined the exit road from the carpark. I then got a fine view of the House and its surrounding grasslands and woodlands. Further along the road I got a wonderful view of St Giles Church. I could see a ha-ha wall running below it. I’d not noticed that this morning when I visited the church, but I guess that’s the whole point of a ha-ha wall. For those that don’t know, a ha-ha wall is a sunken wall. That is, when you approach from the top, there is a sudden step down in the land where the retaining wall has been built. The purpose of the wall is to provide a barrier, but also to provide the optical illusion of having an open view without it being restricted by walls. The origins of the name are French and are thought to derive from somebody’s surprise when they realise that the wall is there. It is known as the Argghh-argghh wall if you don't notice it and step off into space.      

I reached the exit point from the Estate. The small collection of buildings on my right formed Calke village. The Purple Trail signs directed me along the country lane to my left. The country lane was a dead-end terminating with the Round carpark, and so it wasn’t busy to walk along. I branched off the tarmac onto a trail that descended down to Staunton Harold Reservoir. There was a fine view along the reservoir although it was severely in need of some water to top it up. I came across an open bird hide. A Heron stood knee deep in the water on the other side of the reservoir, looking for something to eat. The Purple Trail crossed over an area that separated the reservoir from Little Dogkennel pond. Looking at the map, a series of these ponds headed westwards into the Estate. I’d meet up with more of these ponds in a little while. In the meantime, the Purple Trail headed uphill. There were fields on one side and the Estate’s Deer Park on the other. The Deer Park was a wooded area and I didn’t see any deer at all as the trail followed its perimeter fence. I’d already seen plenty of Red and Fallow deer earlier in the day. They had congregated on the grassy area of the Deer Park near to the Walled Garden and the Stables. The trail descended and came to the Mere Pond. This was a large pond and occasionally had good views across it, once a gap in the trees appeared. I now find myself back adjacent to the carpark. It was at this point that I parted company with the Purple Trail.

Pink Trail (Blue Trail (National Forest Trail (Calke Explore)))

I joined the Pink Trail, although the Blue Trail ran along the same path too. In fact, so did the National Forest Trail and the Calke Explore path for that matter. It all got very confusing. For simplicity, I just followed the trail that ran alongside the pretty Mere Pond and Thatch House Pond and tried to forget about trail signage for a while. The Thatch House Pond finished and I crossed a bridge separating it from Betty’s Pond. I spent a brief time on the Calke Trail (and temporarily the Red Trail too) that brought me to the road that I recognised when I'd driven into the estate this morning. This took me into an area of woodland that had been named Calke Explore. This seemed to be a family orientated area with outdoor play areas. I found a bird hide that had a good view of a well stocked bird feeder. I watched some Tits and Robins stuff their bellies for a while before continuing. There were some good trails in this area, but they didn’t always coincide with the trails indicated on the OS map. My next destination was the Tramway Trail and so I used a combination of the gps on my phone and the trails available, to intercept it at some point. 

Tramway Trail

I broke free of the woodland when I found the Tramway Trail. I also found the sun too. The day had turned into a scorcher. I followed the Tramway Trail southwards, with open fields on my right and woodland on my left. This long, straight stretch finally terminated at a country lane where I turned left. It was pleasant enough walking along the lane and quiet in terms of traffic. At the first bend in the road, I left the tarmac and joined an estate track heading northwards. I’d left the trees behind now and I got more open views over the landscape. I could see a hill over to the southeast that I took to be Beacon Hill. Many, many years ago, I remember making an ascent of that hill. The  stone track had now turned to tarmac and it made a very gradual ascent to the top of a hill. On the other side, I could now see the Calke Abbey House and Stables.
‘I could do with a cab.’ The request had come from a woman walking along the road in the opposite direction.
‘A cab? Where on earth would she find a cab around here?’ I thought. There was no point in calling for one from here.
‘You want a cab?’ I asked in order to fill the pause in conversation.
‘Yes, the sun is directly in my eyes, and I can’t see a thing’ she replied. I made a mental note to get my hearing checked. We chatted for a while. She was local and said that she visited Calke Abbey often. I told her I’d walked around its Walled Garden and toured the House this morning.
‘Some of the rooms are a bit of a mess, aren’t they?  Kedleston Hall is worth going around too’ she offered. I told her that Kedleston Hall was on my list of places to visit. She then disappeared into the setting sun.  

There were some cows and calves on the approach to the House. I thought I might be in for some trouble, but they were more interested in eating. It had been about a 5 mile walk around the Estate and I’d enjoyed it. There was a good variety of woodland, parkland and country lane walking with good views at the reservoirs and ponds. The longer 10 mile route that formed my original plan would have to wait for another day.