The un-restored house in a deer park of ancient oaks, ponds and woodland walks, and one of the National Trust's best rated places for a day with a dog. Dogs may be off lead and under close control in the open parkland when no stock is grazing, but must be on a short lead in the gardens and stableyards, and on a lead wherever livestock are - typically the meadows, the historic drive and Lime Avenue. Dog bins and water are provided, and there is a dog walking guide at the visitor centre.
These are the parts only the business can add. We check the dog policy and stamp the date — photos, prices and their own words are theirs to put in, and this listing is waiting for them.
What it looks like with a dog in the picture.
Entry, parking, whether the dog goes free.
Can the dog actually sleep here, and what does it cost.
Which parts of the site, and whether leads are required.
Claiming fills every box above, and lets you reply to reviews when they open. £15 a month, no contract, and it never changes the verdict — the stamp stays ours.
Four and a quarter miles and a little over two hours through the deer park, the ancient oaks and the woodland rides of a National Trust estate that has been left deliberately unmanicured. Start from the main Calke car park a mile inside the gates from Ticknall, free to members and paid otherwise, and note the estate gates close in the early evening. Dogs are free to roam the parkland under close control, which makes Calke unusual among big houses, and are welcome on short leads in the stableyards, gardens, restaurant and shop; the park holds red and fallow deer and grazing sheep, so recall needs to be genuine or the lead goes on.
Country pub on Ticknall's main street, a mile from the Calke Abbey gates and stocked with maps for walks from the door. There is a dedicated dog-friendly area seating up to ten, and one ground-floor bedroom with a private entrance near the car park takes a well-behaved dog. That combination - a pub that will feed you and put the dog up - is rare in South Derbyshire.
Village pub at the Melbourne end of Ticknall, the closest bar to Calke Abbey's entrance. Dogs are welcome in the bar and the courtyard area, which the pub states plainly, though not in the restaurant side. A sensible finish to a morning in Calke's parkland.
Nobody has written one for Calke Abbey. If you have been with the dog, you would be the first — and the first review is the one everybody reads.
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