1984: The HOUSE where TIME STANDS STILL | Blue Peter | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

In Derbyshire lies a grand mansion which is unusual for its contents. The owners never threw anything out and, as rooms became cluttered, they simply closed the door and move to another room. As Calke Abbey fell into disrepair, the house became a time capsule, full of abandoned treasures from the past. In 1984 Blue Peter's Janet Ellis went to meet the current owner Henry Harpur-Crewe and took a look for herself.
Not long after this film was made, the house was taken on by the National Trust, who decided to keep the house in its current state to demonstrate the decline that many such country houses faced.
Clip taken from Blue Peter, originally broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 22 March, 1984.
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[@HandyAndyTechTips]

It's hard to believe that a show for kids could be more informative and sensible than many contemporary shows made for adults! Great clip.

[@malcolmjawohowelll2892]

Yes blue peter treated irs young audiences with intelligence.amd respected that some children are fascinated by grown up things

[@hopebgood]

@@malcolmjawohowelll2892 I totally agree mate. I used to love Blue Peter when I was a kid cos they didn't speak down to me.

[@kennethpetersen8818]

I didn't even realize this was a children's show while watching the video.

[@robalexander8065]

​​@@hopebgood The presenters were reprimanded by Biddy Baxter, if they dared to talk down to the young viewers.

[@fburton8]

And this was Blue Peter, a programme for children. Splendid!

[@tomkandy]

Honestly made it half way through before realising it was from Blue Peter

[@asa1973100]

Janet Ellis SACKED BY THE BBC FOR BEING PREGNANT AND NOT MARRIED!!!!! HOW THINGS CHANGE HEY

[@stevenbradley8492]

The presenter's voice is beautiful, and the show is presented efficiently and in a charming way.

[@EnterShikari01]

Unlike present day Blue Peter!

[@michaelevans205]

Janet Ellis. Sophie Ellis Bextor's mum.

[@Rich-bb5gp]

Janet Ellis has one of the most distinctive voices in television... and she drove an Alfasud!

[@davidbarnes241]

I visited this estate about 5 years after this programme, the house wasn’t open to the public, but the grounds were for the day and I enjoyed it very much. I can’t recall the portico being so dilapidated, so presumably they had done some renovation by then.

[@OhTheNormanity]

Grew up watching Blue Peter. Fantastic show for us Gen Xers.

[@kap2027]

Brilliant clip, presented beautifully to by Janet Ellis too!

[@tomtebby7408]

Caulke Abbey is a fantastic place to visit. It is still very much like it was in this video with lots of junk in dark rooms and forgotten toys - but beautiful too.

[@bardo0007]

Some of the toys must be worth a fortune today. Like that horse.

[@mrlotusmic]

Can’t beat a bit of Ralph Vaughan Williams to start the day.

[@rosieHolliday5887]

Gosh! The dream would be to transport myself back to 1984 & spend days rifling through all of those rooms of "junk" Just amazing

[@Dubjaxfilms]

I share that dream

[@City__Walker]

"Set in the midst of a landscape park, Calke Abbey is presented by the National Trust as an illustration of the English country house in decline. At its time of endowment, there had been little change to many rooms since the 1880s. A massive amount of remedial work but no restoration has been done and interiors are almost as they were found in 1985, so the decay of the building and its interiors has been halted but not reversed"

[@juanman75]

Another gem from the archives! Looks like a very quirky and interesting place to visit. Very well made and presented programme.

[@penelopesparrow]

An absolute bucket list place for me, one day I'll make it over (from all the way here in Australia). Amazing to think this was 30 years ago and the abbey still operates today, mostly entirely the same! I expect you could walk into that bedroom and find everything in the same spot, just a little more dusty. It was kept like this by the trust on purpose, as a perfect illustration of the way stately homes declined in the 20th century as family's fortunes fell.

[@nottmjas]

I've been some 30 times as it's only an hour away from me and the rooms are still as shown here. As I've said elsewhere, the most emotive time to visit is late afternoon in October, November and December - check in the NT's website to see opening times and when the house closes for its annual winter deep clean - as the dimming light makes the inside and especially the abandoned rooms even more atmospheric. Plus if you'll be staying nearby, there are some other cracking National Trust and English Heritage places to visit in the surrounding area such as Ashby Castle, Packwood House, Baddesley Clinton House, Kenilworth Castle, Bolsover Castle, Hardwick Hall and Kedleston Hall, the home of a viceroy of India. And you have the Cotswolds and the Peak District, Lichfield, Warwick and Stratford upon Avon within driving reach. And all just two and a bit hours north of London.

[@penelopesparrow]

@@nottmjas thanks so much for all the info! So many places to explore; I've been to England twice and both times I didn't want to leave, I feel very at home there 🥰

[@nottmjas]

@@penelopesparrow Aussies, Kiwis and Canucks should always feel as if they're at home when visiting these islands, and vice versa 🇬🇧💞 🇦🇺💞🇨🇦💞🇳🇿

[@lynnedanieli2537]

Janet's voice is wonderful 😊

[@5nowChain5]

Proper English. 😎

[@MarJon-j9k]

Amazing possessions in that house 😍

[@2511dhall]

I have been there and it is great place to visit.

[@jakecavendish3470]

Why does it feel so good?

[@jeangenie68]

😂 I see what you did there.

[@matthewbland8765]

JANET BLOODY ELLIS! 😍

[@thecaveofthedead]

Marvellously eerie. Like the inspiration for Gormenghast.

[@kimsherlock8969]

That birds expression, I loved it and knew I would smile at the contents. Is the bird a Gull 😂😅😊

[@deidraboswell8451]

I so hope all these things are saved, kept in a museum perhaps.

[@fearney123]

the house is open daily to the public, I room guide Fridays, its a wonderful place to visit

[@davidkennedy8929]

The house is a museum!

[@hughmackay5200]

The eccentricity dominated the family, and the house today has some weird contents. For me, the highlight is the great State Bed.

[@freakywizard2936]

As a child I would let my toys and trinkets exactly the same way and place, just as I had left them the day before, for hours in the following morning. I would stare at them untouched, harmoniously messy and when finally one where touched I lost a bit of a sense of wisdom greater than one can humanly explain... Only then I would start playing with them again. This video made me remind the feeling of it.

[@freakywizard2936]

It was a peace undisturbed and Almost like history

[@growlerthe2nd712]

I’ve been to Caulke Abbey many times as I live near by , but I only been around the house once, I used to prefer the grounds instead some beautiful old trees there, and we used to take the kids in the summer for picnics and play football or mess around with a frisbee 🥏.

[@mistofoles]

Janet Ellis was also a presenter on "JIGSAW " ( Remember that ? ) I think she was in DR WHO too as one of his assistants.

[@cbwavy]

7:16 -wow that is so cool!

[@BeesWaxMinder]

Very like her daughter...& of course, Vice Versa!

[@leechilds3725]

Back when the BBC produced great TV.

[@lukemccrohon5152]

Big up blue Peter

[@JCJTC]

Arrested decay is a wonderful way to preserve our past. This was also used in parts of Alexandra Palace. It was reports like this in my childhood that fuelled my love of history. The rate at which we lost places like this, not just the massive stately homes but the smaller versions in towns all around the country (the village or town "big house") in the inter and post war years last century, we are lucky to have those that survived.

[@EnterShikari01]

Arrested decay is just a made up fancy way of saying laziness and hoarding.

[@EnterShikari01]

It was “used” in parts of Alexandra Palace, what nonsense.

[@syedalamgir5838]

Mystery of past

[@mistofoles]

So that bloke lives in that giant house alone ( Apart from his undoubtedly army of staff ) ?

[@refosco1993]

I’d like to see what the house is like now

[@fearney123]

its all but the same, slight changes for safety, i room guide and its wonderful place to visit

[@Dubjaxfilms]

fascinating I wonder if the house is still like that

[@mrb.5610]

In a word - no ! The National Trust has sanatised it !

[@a34rwl]

How utterly spkendid! Lets go back to this charming tine when everyone was frightfully posh and privileged - what, what😅

[@maxasaurus3008]

Hard to believe this was thirty nine years ago.

[@nottmjas]

I saw this clip when it was first broadcast and I was fascinated by that place, little knowing that it would one day become my favourite NT stately home. I must have visited it some thirty times over the years and in my opinion the best time to visit is in autumn in late afternoon just as the sun is setting and the light inside the rooms, especially the derelict ones facing east, is very atmospheric. You can sense the spirits of past inhabitants all around you. Like I said, l know that I saw this some 40 years ago but in my mind's eye, I thought that it was Simon Groome who presented this piece.

[@anthonymitchell8893]

nottmjas i fairness she is the spitting image of Simon i could see why you would think that 😎

[@nottmjas]

@@anthonymitchell8893 more likely that Simon is a Derbyshire lad so whilst remembering the house, I forgot who the presenter was and then assumed it was him. Still, someone like Janet or Sarah would never be given a chance of presenting a children's TV show nowadays: too well spoken to connect with the viewers.

[@jasonayres]

As someone who likes nosing around antique and old ware shops (- generally looking at antiques, occasionally buying old wares-), this was fascinating. A story tinged with sadness, but fascinating. Some of the contents would fetch a bit of money these days. I don't know about the disused chamber pots, though. Although, there are collectors for everything these days.

[@Paul2377]

Did the National Trust really leave it untouched "to demonstrate the decline that many such country houses faced", or was it because they didn't want to spend the money to clear it out and do it up? :)

[@nottmjas]

A bit of both, but mainly the former. The NT first makes a property that they've taken on watertight and structural sound then tends to persevere properties in the state they were left in and not renovate them.

[@Paul2377]

@@nottmjas I was being a little facetious. I love the NT and I'm a proud member, but I can imagine it would cost a lot more money to have cleared most of the rooms out and made them look half decent.

[@pw7010]

​@@Paul2377 What would be the point of "clearing" most of the rooms, tidiness fan?

[@nottmjas]

@@Paul2377 I spoke with a senior volunteer at Calke who mentioned that the NT doesn't disneyfy their properties; they leave that to developers who take on such properties.

[@EnterShikari01]

They cba.

[@robinvanags912]

Ellis arriving by Alfasud, examines aristocratic eccentricity.

[@steveosshenanigans]

I bet it was already rusty as it was 3 year’s old !

[@jameswaters5133]

@@steveosshenanigans No chance of it restarting - she's still there in one of the dusty rooms!

[@davidtexmex1616]

Somewhat merrily morbid, the reclusive nature of it all points to suspicion 🤔

[@dzadza7775]

How did it escape requisition in WW2? Or did it?

[@jameswaters5133]

Probably cause it was so antiquated. Felbrigg in Norfolk escaped requisition because it had no electricity.

[@KathW-bf3ks]

There were a small number of soldiers billeted there in part of the house, possibly engaged in making decoys to confuse night bombers. But only for the first couple of years of the war I believe.

[@k_DAN]

Like as if the old coot couldn't have taken 20 minutes away from his accounting to show and tell her real stories about the place.

[@jameswaters5133]

Socially awkward, probably

[@andsoistopped]

Just wondering if this clip would be better served with ‘Murder on the Dance floor’.

[@jeangenie68]

The lovely Janet Ellis, who's other claim to fame... She is also the mother of Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

[@hilaryepstein6013]

I just feel sorry for their families who were stuck in that mausoleum for generation after generation. No wonder they turned out the way they did.

[@andsoistopped]

They liked birds so much they killed them, stuffed them and put them in cabinets. Brilliant.

[@themadplotter]

Alright soft lad.

[@andsoistopped]

@@themadplotter alright ‘ard laddddd.

[@alanduncan1980]

Gotta catch 'em all.

[@Mooocheropordis]

Odd that 'naturalist' has changed its meaning, whilst now it's means conserving habitats for living endangered animals and plants, to the Victorians it meant killing and stuffing to possess a rare bird in a box till there weren't any left!

[@mistofoles]

Never thought of it before, but Janet was quite hot, wasn't she ?

[@robbflynn4325]

Some of the 'junk ' will be worth a fortune.

[@TheHarrip]

Didn't her daughter become a pop star?

[@M_Bamboozled]

And when Janet became pregnant with her (unmarried), Blue Peter sacked her for it.

[@brocktoon8]

When the BBC was actually great, not just a propaganda machine for the woke cultural revolution.

[@ed_leonardi]

When people spoke English properly.

[@hopebgood]

People speak English properly now...just with different accents.

[@ed_leonardi]

@@hopebgood if you have proper education you shouldn't have an accent.

[@ed_leonardi]

@@hopebgood the only good accent is RP accent.

[@hopebgood]

@@ed_leonardi 🙄

[@jameswaters5133]

She's so clear, isn't she. Very good.

[@stepheng8779]

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