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.
