Wentworth Woodhouse: Transforming a near derelict Yorkshire ruin into a global tea house

Visitors can once again take tea in this secluded spot in the gardens, as the great ladies of the stately home near Rotherham would have done back in 1738.

Sarah McLeod, chief executive of the Preservation Trust, can remember the camellias from when the mansion was first bought for restoration back in 2017.

"They had pushed right through the glass ceiling," she said. "From the ground all we could see were these spindly trunks. Now they are lovely and lush and green again.

"They are just so significant and so important. Discovering that has pushed us that bit harder, I think, to make sure that we take care of them.

"To come to the end now and to see them, healthy and protected, is just wonderful."

Wentworth Woodhouse, once close to dereliction with its Grade ll Camellia House, was on Historic England’s Heritage At Risk register when it was taken over by the trust.

It was back in 2019 that head gardener Mr Jamieson found that many of the 19 camellias here were originals, likely dating from the early 1800s. Once pampered and prized they had thrived under the elements, with trunks the width of trees and measuring 30ft tall.

The conservatory was originally created from a tea house for Lady Rockingham as wife of the 1st Marquess, and it is thought the camellia collection could have begun in the next generation. Each plant could have cost the equivalent of a housemaid’s annual wage.

But the building fell into decline from the late 1900s and the precious plants were forgotten. Identifying them has been a painstaking process. Cuttings are to be saved in a plant bank, saving their line for a further 500 years.

Mr Jamieson said: “The camellias are robust, having been feral for the best part of a century. But they are now in a rarified atmosphere again and that puts us on a steep learning curve, just as the gardeners of 1810 would have been when the camellias first arrived."

Funding of £5m has gone into the Camellia House project, with £4m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and just over £614,000 from Historic England.

A crowd gathered yesterday as the newly restored Camellia House reopened as a global tea house.

"It's wonderful," said Ms McLeod, on bringing the project to an end. She added: "This is a stepping stone. Wentworth isn't one big project, it's hundreds of of projects. Every single one is just as important.”