Conservation and cleaning at Calke

Winter cleaning at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire — Cleaning the collection at Calke Abbey

A team of conservation assistants and volunteers are responsible for keeping Calke ‘clean’. Unlike many stately homes, Calke Abbey tells the story of a country house in decline, therefore many of its rooms are seemingly abandoned, dusty and a little ‘un-stately’. But even when the house is open to visitors, the house team are busy with their cleaning and conservation work. So what does that involve?

Getting dusty

Every day during the open season, the conservation team dust the uncluttered, flat surfaces in the more well-kept rooms. Once a week, the objects are removed from their tables so they can be fully dusted. A hog’s hair brush (which looks a bit like a paint brush) is used to dust the intricate carvings in the Saloon, and a soft pony hair brush to dust the silver in the Dining Room.

True to Calke’s spirit of decline, the abandoned rooms are left to accumulate dust – the house team dust those rooms just once or twice a year!

Vacuuming Calke

The visitor route is vacuumed every day without fail, which takes a massive three hours each day! The team then dry mop the wooden floors to keep them clean and prevent damage, and dust the staircase panelling, banisters and treads.

With the help of a dedicated team of volunteers, over 100 windows and 32 fireplaces are vacuumed each month! When did you last vacuum your windows?

" During the summer holidays when it gets busy, the glass needs cleaning more often. We use a mixture of methylated spirit and water which gets the fingerprints off easily, with a cloth and a tea towel to dry the glass. "

Keeping the pests at bay

In total we have 88 pest traps across the house, stables and church. These are checked four times a year, and the results are sent off to the conservator.

The most common pests we find are woodworm and carpet beetle, which can both be dealt with by the conservation team at Calke. Firstly, a water-based pesticide called constrain is sprayed onto the infested object to eliminate the pests.

For persistent or large scale infestations, the object is wrapped up in sealed plastic and put in the freezer. This usually combats the infestation.

A busy conservation team

On top of the day-to-day cleaning at Calke, our conservation team have long-term projects that need undertaking throughout the year. Conservation Assistants Rachel, Jen, Gemma and Jess are reorganising the stable storage and recording their work, which will take more than a year to complete.

Kim, our Conservation and Engagement Assistant, organises and implements various engagement activities in the house for our visitors to see during their visit. This could be cleaning silver while the house is open, or opening up cupboards or stores that are normally closed, giving our visitors a glimpse behind closed doors.

Volunteers cleaning books in the library at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire — Book cleaning in the library

We also have a dedicated team of volunteers working in the house – we couldn't do it without them! Our book cleaning volunteers work through thousands of books so they're ready to be catalogued by a curator. The metalwork team work across the site treating the metalwork, making sure it keeps its rusty, declined look but preventing it from deteriorating further. The sewing team are working through the mammoth task of making covers for the objects in the stable stores, to protect them from dust and bat poo!