This is a guest post by Claire Herring, Director at Wentworth Castle Garden
Forget everything you ever thought you knew about Barnsley – Wentworth Castle Gardens has everything for a great day out.
Just a mile off the M1, we offer tranquil gardens and miles of waymarked walks around our beautiful deer park. If you like something more lively we have an adventure playground, a year round events programme, retail therapy at the Gardens gift shop and great local food including estate reared venison at the Wentworth Castle Tea Rooms. And if you want the perfect “Perfect Day” our 18th century Long Barn is a stunning venue for marriages and civil partnerships.
Stainborough Castle before and after restoration – Folly and “toy castle” for the Earl of Straffords children
Scandal, disinheritance and an outsized spate of one-upmanship led to the creation of the Estate, including the house and a series of extravagant follies – including Stainborough Castle, a replica castle built originally as a play space for the Earl’s own children and now a favourite with visitors. Wentworth Castle itself (The Big House) is now home to our friends at Northern College – you are welcome to walk around the outside and we offer house tours by arrangement. We’ll tell you the stories of great affairs of state, but also the human stories of the people who lived and worked here.
But it could all have been very different. In the last century Wentworth Castle, its gardens, parkland and follies fell into ruin. Gradually buildings decayed and nature reclaimed the gardens. If it were not for the commitment of local people Wentworth Castle Gardens might have been lost forever.
The rotunda, in the heart of the deer park had almost been completed lost before the restoration project.
In 2002, the Wentworth Castle Trust was created to rescue the Castle’s historic estate from dereliction and with the help of the National Lottery awoke this sleeping beauty through an ambitious programme of restoration. Gardens were replanted, romantic follies rediscovered and the estate’s home farm buildings restored as the Long Barn visitor centre. We opened our doors to visitors in2007, since which time around 200,000 people have been to visit.
As a mark of how far we have come, this year we have reached the finals of the Lottery Good Causes Awards – a UK-wide competition to identify the nation’s favourite Lottery funded project. You can help Wentworth Castle Gardens to win by voting for us on the Lottery Awards Website before September 26th: http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/best-heritage-project/138/ Voting is free, takes seconds, and the winners will be announced in November.
Of course there is still a lot to do. Restoring Wentworth Castle to its full glory is a lifetime’s work, which means that every time you visit us you are helping make that vision a reality and also you’ll get to see the restoration project in action and keep up-to-date with progress.
Next month we are about to start the restoration of our fragile Victorian Glasshouse, it will take about 20 months to complete. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Claire Herring
Director, Wentworth Castle Garden
The Victorian Conservatory – our next big project due to start later this year. Currently in a totally derelict state, but due to be restored to its former glory by 2013.
