Calke Abbey hit by flood...

[Nemesis]

Oh dear...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/6760133.stm


More about Calke:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/calke.htm

 

[Penners]

A great shame.

I'm sure the National Trust knows a wee bit more about conservation than I do, but I am surprised to see the photo of books laid out to dry (a) on plastic sheet, and (b) in the closed position.

Won't (a) hinder the drying, and (b) encourage the pages to stick together?

 

[Nemesis]

I suspect the flood had just hit... maybe they were simply in the process of rescue. Possibly better to keep them damp until they can be dried out in a controlled manner.

Calke is in an odd place at the bottom of a slope which can't have helped.

 

[Gervase]

The National Trust is probably farther down the learning curve than most here - it does, after all, still advise gauging lime mortar with cement!

 

[Nemesis]

Well not everywhere, the walls of the walled garden at Gibside were done with lime and NO cement... a mammoth job for the two men concerned.

 

[Mark]

The National Trust is probably farther down the learning curve than most here - it does, after all, still advise gauging lime mortar with cement!

True. When I was first trying to buy Lime Putty one of the local builders merchants had a bloke who's last job had been for the NT at Fountains Abbey. He assured me that I needed cement - 'We always used it at fountains'

 

[Nemesis]

Yes - and so did EH until not so long ago!