Calke Abbey stables and church

Calke Abbey is set in a sizeable estate, with gardens and a deer park. It also has a huge stable block, part of which is now used for weddings. I'm assuming that they used to keep racehorses or something here, but surprisingly I can't find any info about this anywhere. Like the rest of the property, it is somewhat rundown and littered with bits and bobs just lying around. 

There is a sizeable blacksmith's forge, another reason that leads me to assume the equine enterprise was at one time quite significant. 

The church of St Giles is now a private manorial chapel, rebuilt in Gothic Revival style in 1827 by Sir George Crewe. Before that there was a medieval church associated with Calke Priory, and then it became a parish church for the village of Calke. 

It's small and relatively plain inside, full of memorials to Calke Abbey's family members, including the diamond shaped funerary hatchments. These are heraldic devices that were hung for a few months outside the mansions of the gentry when they died, before being lodged in the family chapel or parish church. You see them in many churches associated with noble families. 

I didn't have time to explore the gardens, but on the way back to the car I noticed these unusual cattle. From a quick Google search, I think they are native English Longhorns, nowadays a relatively rare breed. The land in the Midlands and further south is even more parched than up here. All the grass is so dry and brown that the animals are effectively eating hay right there in the meadows.