Down the lane: the little village and the Big House

Wentworth Village (where I took photos of the herd of cattle and posted on the blog a few weeks ago) has some unusual buildings that have been converted into private homes such as the windmill above, sometime known as the Saxon Tower.

The little estate village to the Big House, Wentworth Woodhouses, once owned by the Fitzwilliam dynasty, is still linked to its historical past with this industrial and mining family.  Many of the houses still have garden gates painted in the uniform green of the former owners.

The Big House is now owned by a private individual as the Fitzwilliam heritage died out with no heirs who could afford to maintain what is, in fact, the largest country house in England with the longest frontage of any in Europe.

Much of the land around the house was destroyed by open-cast mining after the Second World War when the government policy of the day was to take over privately-owned mines, but today the land is gradually being improved and settling back into rural and leisure use and the village is one of the best kept in the area.

Here are some more views of part of the village from the back lanes.

The spire of the present parish church, Holy Trinity, can be seen from all directions.

                                         Some of the allotments from one of the back lanes.

                               The former Methodist Chapel, which is now a private residence.

                                                                 A pretty cottage garden

There's a bistro in the main street which was once the busy blacksmith's shop.  Now the small forge in the Builder's Yard creates ornamental items since times have changed!  (For example, the 18th century stable block on the estate had room for 84 horses for riding and driving coaches and carriages with a large riding school attached).  

The beacon, like many others, was set up for the millennium celebrations.

There's a family-owned garden centre which was part of the formal gardens of the Big House.It's a popular place to visit for purchasing plants with many other features and I will write about this another time.

You can see the old wall which enclosed this area of the estate.

New enterprises in old buildings

In an old yard in the South Yorkshire village of Wentworth Woodhouses are a number of small retail outlets selling items for the home and garden. There's a toy and children's clothes boutique, several workshops making hand made oak furniture and a working forge.

The blacksmith designs and makes beautiful wrought iron objects which can be bought at the time of visiting or can be specially commissioned such as gates, fences, weather vanes and accessories for anyone who has an open fireplace. It's a corner of the village I've been visiting often  to browse around as it's a good place to buy gifts.

                                                                                    

 'Old Building Yard' was once the kennels and building yard for Wentworth Woodhouse House and Estate, the huge mansion and vast acres of land that covered most of South Yorkshire that belonged to the Wentworth-Fitzwilliams.

The village and all the surrounding old buildings also belonged to the Estate.  The later Wentworth-

Fitzwilliams had diverse industrial interests in mining, iron foundries, and potteries and their

workforce from the village and others in the area were provided with cheap, decent housing, fuel,

school and medical facilities and were well thought of by their employees in these industries and in the house, gardens and estate. As a model village it's still very well preserved.   

Down the Lane: Beautiful gardens

Paradise Square, Wentworth Village

Down the lane: curious cattle

Living in a semi-rural area we don't have to go far to see many aspects of farming life.

These friendly creatures were eager to come over and take

a look at us since we were paying attention to them.

Did you notice the bull in the distance?

We were glad that there was a thick wall 

between him and us!