A visit to Calke Abbey is a lesson in harbouring found objects. The last generations of the Harpur family - who inhabited this remote baroque mansion for nearly 300 years - retained and continued to grow a treasured collection of ephemera within. The estate went into glorious decline, until it was ‘rescued’ in the 1980’s by the National Trust. The distressed and neglected state of the house and contents has been embraced for the unique aesthetic and as a study of British aristocratic decline.
