Wentworth Castle - Parkland

What a glorious day it has been here in South Yorkshire. We needed to stay close to home today as hubby had to go to work at 5pm, so we decided to go for a walk in the Parkland at Wentworth Castle which is a couple of miles away (at Stainborough and not actually in Wentworth - Wentworth Woodhouse is in Wentworth). The house and gardens are owned by 2 seperate entities. You may recognise the house as the college where I am currently endeavouring to "Parle Francaise". The Gardens and park are run by a charitable trust. We didnt have time to do the gardens today, but I couldn't resist the great offer they have where you can buy a season ticket for £30 (which covers myself and hubby) for a whole year. (So you will be seeing more of this place as you know I like my money's worth!!). I know that we do have quite a few tourists in South Yorkshire these days as we do have some great places round about, but this place seems to be getting better at attracting the locals more and more which is brilliant and makes financial sense. I do realise though that it will cost me a small fortune in the cafe when I use my "free" visits - but hey ho.

To do the parkland walk, you normally have to just pay for the car park (£3.50) but I get this included in my season ticket now.

The whole Estate dates back to the early 1700's and has stunning views as it is right on top of a hill - you can see the house from the M1 - its on the right hand side if you are heading south from Barnsley. I think that this used to be the main gate at one time - just wide enough for a horse and carriage.

They have spent a fortune repairing a lot of the features around the old estate - these had been left neglected and in a bad state for a very long time.

The Rotunda is getting a facelift - I hope that they open this once it is done. It contains a large room - where they used to entertain guests, and underneath there is a room where the servants would have prepared food.

There are lots of deer roaming around the park once more.

Further down, we came across column dedicated to the Duke of Argyll.

You can see why we are attracting more tourists to our region - just look at the colour of the sky!!!

On our walk round, I spotted several signs that indicate Spring has most certainly arrived.

Firstly, the bluebells are starting to poke through.

This fella - high in the sky actually felt warm on my face - I could have sat in it for ages.

I saw my first lambs of the year.

This looks lovely if you double click to enlarge it.

I saw Pussy Willows. My sister "stocks up" on these in Spring. She fills her coat pockets with them so that she can tickle her face with them throughout the year!! - we put this strange behaviour down to the fact that she didn't have a dummy when she was a baby!

The daffodils are almost out!! - well it is the frozen north!

and finally - and the most exciting by far, (the young man could not believe how giddy this made me) FROGS SPAWN!!!!!!! This takes me right back to being 5 years old and having jars full of it on the back window ledge and on the nature table at school.

All in all a fabulous Sunday walk. You would never think that this was Barnsley would you?