Wentworth Woodhouse

The sun was shining this morning, so we jumped in the car and headed down the road to Wentworth Woodhouse.

Wentworth Woodhouse is the largest privately owned house in the UK.  It's a pretty impressive view at over 600 feet long on the frontage of the East Wing.
But, unless you want to pay for a private tour, you'll be looking at that front from a fair old distance from the footpath that runs down alongside the house and into Wentworth Park.
That's fine by me - I like to look at stuff.  And this is definitely a place where you can only look at stuff.  The first thing that you see when you enter the grounds are lots of 'don't' signs.  Keep off, no entry, private, keep out...  That's all fair enough, as it's private grounds, but why keep off the grass?  My kids just wanna run round trees, pick sticks up and roll down hills!
Anyway, enough moaning.
The first thing you see when you walk in (after passing the cool little gatehouse) is the eyesore that is the old college campus on the left.  Forget that and look to the right and look at the awesome old stable block and courtyard.  This is still used today, but looks like a place that time forgot - and, I do love abandoned stuff, so it's right up my street!  The gates were closed today though, so we didn't get chance to have a nosey inside.  Just a bit further down on the left is a little gravestone.  This marks the resting place of the racehorse 'Whistlejacket' - a horse of Charles Watson-Wentworth (AKA The Marquess of Rockingham, Lord Rockingham and the Prime Minister of Great Britain!).  There is also apparently a large painting of the horse in the house. 
Carrying on down the path and you soon see the main house on the right.  Also, the impressive Roman-looking cenotaph of the Rockingham Mausoleum can be seen peeping through the trees further down the path and to your left.  There are 3 other follies around the estate - I think a little tour of them all may be in order!

We walked through and wound our way down to a couple of lakes in the middle of the grounds - one a fishing pond and the other with the terrible name of Dog Kennel Pond.  The kids didn't care what they were called - they happily threw stones in the water, waved twigs around and enjoyed the fresh air.  Although, it was getting a bit nippy at this point! 
Me and the missus strolled hand in hand while they played.  Although, I did get told off for holding the wrong hand - apparently getting steps to count on your fitbit is more important than a bit of romance!

All in all, a nice bit of family time. 

And, if you want to get married here then give me a shout - it would be awesome!

More info on the house HERE and the Mausoleum HERE. 

Some snaps.