Ambitious plans for stately home stables revealed

PLANS for the ambitious revival of Wentworth Woodhouse’s impressive stable block have been submitted — as work prepares to get underway to restore the mansion’s crumbling 18th-century camellia house to its former glory.

The year-long £5 million project to restore the garden building — which contains some of the oldest species of the flowering plant in the western world — is due to begin later this month.

And in another major milestone, Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust have filed detailed plans for their transformation of the stables — a complex so grand it is mistaken by many visitors for “the Big House” itself.

A huge package of forms, statements and drawings — running to some 180 documents — outlines the derelict Grade I stables’ conversion into a cafe, kitchens and office space, with associated landscaping and repairs.

It will also include ripping out “incompatible modern materials”, such as a tarmac surface over a stone-flagged courtyard and a fibreglass roof.

The neighbouring riding school will become a wedding and events space under a later phase of the trust’s masterplan.

Plans have also been submitted to Rotherham Council to repair and reinstate the distinctive oval fountain in front of the camellia house, including installing a new pump and electrical system.

Construction specialists William Birch & Sons Ltd have been appointed to carry out the work to the camellia house itself, which will cost up to £5 million, mostly funded by lottery grants.

Currently a roofless shell, the historic stone and glass building will become a tea house and events space in plans aimed at creating 22 hospitality jobs.

A special scaffolding framework in fine netting — allowing in sunlight but keeping out dust and debris — will be brought to protect camellias as much as 200 years old.

A new roof, toilets and a kitchen will be created at the historic front of the camellia house, and a new glass roof will be constructed at the back, where the camellias are housed in historic troughs, and where visitors will be able to enjoy sampling teas from around the globe.

The building will be served by ground-source heat pumps, which will also supply part of the stables complex, which is to be restored under the trust’s renovation masterplan

Sarah McLeod, chief executive of the preservation trust, said: “This is a very exciting time for us — the transformation of the camellia house is the first project we are undertaking which will bring an entirely derelict area of the site back into full use.”