Photos from my walk around Wentworth Castle Gardens 28.3.11

Magnificent!! This is what I like and what I do.

Hi OO - Thanks for showing us those lovely photos - I especially liked the stumpery - have always fancied one at home but my garden is a bit too small although I supose I could build one under my apple trees as not much will grow there.

I do hope your daughter was successful - rejection is so upsetting, even more so when you are young.

I'm so glad I've seen this, Oliveoil, as it's on our list of 'places to visit' when we ever get up to that lovely part of the country. The big house and the castle alone are worth seeing, but those Rhodies are fabulous! Aren't those wood sculptures amazing, I never see anything so good on my walks! I wish your daughter good luck with a job offer. : o ))

That looks really lovely and huge too! The house is a great big square pile isn't it...not my idea of a 'home' but very impressive!

I'm glad you had a good day Mum and sunshine too...icing on the cake....did you have icing on your cake? lol xx

Hope the news is good for Sammie later xx

Lovely photos of your walk , love the pink Rhododendrons. Very impressive place, and I do hope your knees have recovered and your daughter gets her job.

Karen, these houses may look a "big square pile" from the outside, but when you go inside it is another world. I have not been to this particular one, but I have visited many similar and they are wonderful. They all have beautiful, well maintained gardens something I am sure you will like.

Thanks everyone for reading and taking the time to look at the pictures.

Cos It is very impressive house, but I don't know if it is open to the public I forgot to ask. I love old big houses, but not too bothered about looking around inside. I like the architecture and the look from outside. It was very very big. I did think it looked like it could have been used for offices in some parts of it.

Karen I didn't have icing on my cake, but it was a lovely big piece of fruit cake yum yum!!

There are such a wealth of beautifully, grand houses and gardens to go with them in the UK...we are very fortunate.

Thanks for sharing your visit and photos with us Olive. I know some people get fed up with the rhoddies as they can be quite invasive in some areas but they sure do put out a bloom, don't they? I remember as a child we had a huge one in our front garden, as did the neighbour and the bees loved the flowers (always frightened me how big the bumble bees seemed then).

Glad you enjoyed a nice piece of fruit cake too :)

thanks Whistonlass pleased you like the blog

Cos, I'm like my Mum, I love looking at the outside, but the interiors don't really interest me too much. I'd rather spend my time in the gardens!

Mum, isn't Wentworth House still owned/leased by the Council....If I remember rightly it used to be a teacher training college, and before that a hospital or residential place during the war. I believe the estate was 'stolen' for the M1 and also for Mining. I read up on it a bit when we were trying to find out about Grandfather etc. I do remember voting for the glasshouse renovation on 'Restoration' and thought it should have won, but they were all such great causes...I wish they would do that programme again, I really loved it! Once the glasshouses are renovated it will be amazing!!

There is an old Mansion House in Broughty Ferry that has been run down for years and it has a fantastic turn of the century glasshouse....all of it is grade 1 listed. The house is beautiful. Arts and Crafts, my favourite style. They are making it in to posh flats, but being a listed building, the glasshouse has to be renovated to it's original design and standard! It will be a-ma-zing when it's done. Views across the Tay to Fife. I think I'll buy it and have a tropical paradise in the glasshouse! lol....if I had a spare million!

i enjoyed your walk round beautiful pictures especially the avenue through those tall trees....lovely

Mum, did you know that some Rhodys have lovely scent? The tree-like white ones seem to have the most scent, but when I visit gardens with big rhodys I always check them out for scent and some of them have a strong perfume that you can smell before you reach them. Glendoick is a treat for them!

Brilliant blog Oliveoil ! Now on my list of places to visit !
Favourites were the natural sculptures . Thanks for that :)

Karen you must be correct because the M1 splits it in two. Yes some of it was taken over for mining etc. Maybe the house is still teacher training college, you are not confusing it with Lady Mabel College which is the one at Wentworth village down in the park are you? That was a teacher training college, many years ago, they used to walk around in red capes when I was in the village it was females only. That one was called Wentworth Woodhouse. (originally) It burned down years and years ago in fact centuries ago because it was wooden and they re-built it of stone. Now that also is an impressive building. They used the park and house as barracks for the Americans (I think) during the war. The one I looked at yesterday was owned and run by the Wentworth family, the one at Wentworth village was Earl Fitzwilliams estate. So maybe you have got the two muddled up.

Karen Yes I did know that some rhoddies are perfumed, but didn't walk on the borders to sniff these ones, mainly because lots of primroses etc where coming up and my size 8 would have trampled them.

Thanks Olive, I do enjoy visiting the grand houses and castles and especially the gardens, this one has a lot to explore, so I`m adding it to our list of places to visit in the future.. The rhodedendrons look lovely and I`d love a stumpery like that, they fascinate me.. Lovely photo`s and I`m glad you enjoyed your day, hoping your daughter gets a good result from her day as well....

This is a Residental College,http://www.northern.ac.uk/ and just a magical place i love going there enjoyed your blog
Mrs M x

Yes, I think I was thinking of the Fitzwillam's place, Mum you're absolutely right! I didn't realise there were two!

Thank you everyone for your good wishes for my youngest, good news - she has got the job of her dreams, she can concentrate now on finishing off her training content in the knowledge she has secured her first 12 months of grown up employment. I am still in so much shock, she has made her dreams come true. She so deserves this job as she has worked so hard first at uni then working with special needs adults and then working with special needs children in a school as a TA and now after nearly 12 months of hard graft working to achieve her NQT status she has done it.

YAY!! WHOO HOO!

Thanks MrsM yes I thought it looked like it was used for something along those lines, it is a very special place, I was dead thrilled I had taken the time to go and look around the gardens, maybe try and get back up there and do some of the Stainborough walks around the park. Lovely place and it was good to go back because I went to college at Barnsley Tech many years ago. Not that it did me a lot of good but eh ho I enjoyed myself and that is what matters I suppose. Thanks for the information.

Yes Karen YIPEE DOO DOO, now all we have to do is find a house for her and Gareth somewhere in between both work places lol. I suppose that will be just as exhausting. They have been saving hard for the deposit so they should be able to make it happen soon. Just hope the Mortgage lenders are lending when they apply. lol.

Congratulations to your youngest on securing a job ... not easy in the current job climate ... she must be on cloud nine right now! : o ))

If there were 10 clouds she would be on it, we all would. thank you.
She has been so desperate to work with special needs children, she got the bug when she went to work as a TA at the local special needs school. She was not encouraged to go into special needs teaching, everyone advised her to do main stream schooling to begin with, but she was adamant she wanted to make a difference to the less able children's lives and she has been given the opportunity. To tell you she is ecstatic is an understatement she is absolutely well and truly off her head with excitement. We have all been on the bottle tonight and I am not a drinker, but my cheeks are glowing. lol. You can tell I am excited for her can't you. lol. It is so great that everything she has dreamed of has come to fruition.

One of our daughter's friends works with Autistic children & adores her job as deputy manager of the day centre ... while another works in a children's hospice and also loves her work! They are both 27 now and enjoying themselves very much. Put that glass down soon before somebody tops it up ... lol!

I replied to your good news earlier but I must have done something wrong and not posted it as a comment! Duh!

I'm joining with you in the happy news that your daughter has finally achieved her heart's desire. Working with special needs children is demanding and rewarding. I do know if her heart is leaning towards this type of work, she will do a fine job. Our daughter worked in special needs as a nursery nurse and found it very rewarding.

I hope you soon have a house sorted too....it is a good time to be looking at buying with a depressed housing market, if they can secure the mortgage funds. Good luck.

Thank you Shirley, have put the glass down and sent youngest off to bed to get some rest, she has had bad dreams for days now, just the worry of the interview and then last night the worry of if she had done herself justice on her interview. bless now she can sleep soundly.

Thank you for your kind thoughts Whistonlass I am sure they will find the right house eventually they have a few weeks to find one now she knows she has a job to go to.

That was a wonderful place to visit. So much to see ! I'm glad you went there to spend your waiting time. It's a place where you could spend a whole day. Thanks for showing the photos.

Thanks Hywel, yes lovely day out, tiring but well worth the visit. thanks for looking at the blog.

Super photos Oliveoil and .... so glad you enjoyed your day with us! Even more pleased your daughter got the job - very best of luck to her, and if she needs to chill out, tell her where to come!

Yes there is confusion between the two Wentworth estates only 6 miles apart. It is a great story of family rivalry going back to the 18th-19th century, with the two owners trying to outdo each other in terms of grandeur - is it any wonder we are the only Grade 1 listed landscape in South Yorkshire and have 26 listed monuments on site!

Both estates had a history of mining on the land, and both were used as teach training facilities - no wonder everyone is confused!

Today Wentworth Castle is still a training establishment - known as Northern College, and yes the earlier post was right, the building itself is owned by Barnsley Council, with Wentworth Castle Trust owning the land immediately around it. We offer public tours of Wentworth Castle most Sundays in high season at 2.30pm. Check the website www.wentworthcastle.org for exact dates, times and online booking.

Our fingers are crossed for the restoration of the Conservatory! The Trust has achieved so much in the 8 years since it came about on the back of BBC's 'Restoration', it really would be the icing on the cake for the 10 year celebration!

Come back and see us one day Oliveoil, and to all of you yet to visit, come and enjoy as Oliveoil did!

Thanks for that information Ann2011 it truly is a beautiful place, my daughter would have loved to have been with me but she had much more important things on her mind. I did not realise until I got home and read the reverse of the map that there were walks all around the park below the grounds. I shall most definitely come back and hope that a lot more people come and visit your amazing venue.

PS Lunch in the cafe was very good too. Thank you again for the info. Good luck with the restoration it will be amazing when it gets done.

Better late than never,Oliveoil..I don't know how I missed this lovely blog and pics...some yorkshire lass I turned out to be ! Lol..Thanks to Karen who told me about it,when she was commenting on my blog about Cannon Hall,I might have missed it altogether..!I really enjoyed your walk with you,as I have never been there,only through the village,and to that lovely garden centre a few times..
Thanks,we will be paying a visit on on of our many jaunts..oh,so many good things about retirement.:o))

Bloomer it is not near Wentworth GC or village, further up nearer Pilley and on a bit further, if you google it you will see where it is, it was the Wentworth family and relations that owned it originally. The one in Wentworth village is called Wentworth Woodhouse, (I think) the Fitzwilliam family owned it originally, think during the war there were people billetted down in the park, think the house was used as a hospital or rehabilitation centre for the wounded men. After the war it was turned into Teacher training college that was when I was a young lass living in Wentworth, the ladies (all ladies no men) used to have huge red capes on and used to walk around a bit like dracula but brighter. lol. The garden centre is where the cricket ground used to be, when I was little we held our village races on the grass up there, I like the garden centre but was sad they changed the area, it brought back memories for me, when I visited it. I loved Wentworth and living there as a child, we were such a lovely community, and we had such freedom as children playing on the grass up by the church. No worries about being picked up and taken off in those days.

Oliveoil,I have just had a look on the Ordnance survey map,.thanks for putting me in the right direction..no wonder we never saw it,as I see the garden centre is on the other side of the M1,nearer to Tankersley manor...Very confusing,when there is Wentworth village and Wentworth Castle !..So,somewhere else new to try,when we are over that way..I can feel a lunch at Wortley hall coming on..we have been there many times,and never knew the Castle was so near.!..I really appreciate your comment,.thank goodness for GoY.Lol.

glad you have your directions all sorted Bloomer, didn't want you going to the wrong place. Enjoy

We will,Oliveoil,something to look forward to, after our Hols...thanks.