Murvi Club AGM March 2014 Day 3

Monty the Motorhome is sitting back on the driveway at home reflecting on his first family get together.

We packed up this morning in the sunshine and said our good-bye's. Ironically we even got to meet some more Murviites, almost saying Hello and Goodbye in the same sentence.

Monty (at the back) queueing to get rid of the grey water (waste). It looks like the vans are queueing for the toilet!

On the way home we broke the journey by visiting another National Trust property - Caulke Abbey. This was a property quite unlike many other stately homes we have visited. In this case the NT have decided to show Calke as a graphic example of "the decline of the great country house" that occurred during the early to mid 20th Century. Walls are damp, with peeling paper. Items are dirty and rusty (we thought of the copperware at Hardwick yesterday as a comparison) and they have even gone to the trouble of removing modern dust, but leaving old dust behind.

We were not sure about it and could not make our minds up if this 'distressed' idea really worked. There are also extensive grounds that can be explored, which we may return to another day.

We had lunch there as well and decided to make this the main meal of the day. I had a venison stew, with meat from the estate. Loads of it and really tasty - just like a strong beef flavour. A bit of focaccia bread was also included to mop up the gravy. Ruth had a chicken dish that was also very tasty. The building was a renovated stable type place - very well restored and certainly not in keeping with the rest of the buildings.

We left Calke at about 2.00pm and were home for 3.45pm