Aroundtown MEETS
to her knowledge of species and Latin names, are mavens who have made strides within the local gardening scene.
The volunteers are mainly retired and come from all different backgrounds and careers, from nurses to teachers and company directors. Most have been involved since Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust did a social media call-out for volunteers when they took over the house in 2017. Many members also combine their work in the garden with voluntary roles within the house, helping with admin, events, and documenting the grand restoration through photography and film. Ally Butler worked for the NHS for 30 years – 17 of those as a nurse at Sheffield Children’s Hospital – and retired three years ago. She now volunteers in the gardens, helps with weddings at the house, and does a day a week with the admin team.
“I had quite a senior position within the NHS so I think the staff in the offices think I shouldn’t be doing
basic tasks like inputting data into spreadsheets. But I’m not pompous or proud. If what I do at Wentworth Woodhouse helps other people then that’s good for me,” she says. Before last year, the only access the public had to the grand gardens was via pre-booked guided tours. However, last summer the Trust decided to fully open the gardens so that more people could benefit and appreciate what the house had to offer. And since then, the volunteers’ work outdoors has continued to grow. “We can’t manage without the volunteers. I don’t like to think of them as just free labour; they’re our garden team and have become ambassadors since the groups launched in 2017. They even saved their collective daily expenses up and match funded this to buy some new benches for the gardens knowing it was something the Trust would have loved to do if the priority for funding wasn’t on urgent repair work to the house,” Scott says. Scott has worked at Wentworth Woodhouse for over 16 years, the
“This year, the gardens had around ”
5,000 visitors in January to March to see the spectacle of snowdrops.
“The volunteers work year-round ”
so that visitors can experience the gardens in all seasons.
majority of that time tackling the mammoth maintenance programme by himself. He started his career taking care of golf courses in his native Scotland, before moving to Italy for eight years. Scott then ran a fashionable florist in Manchester which had a concession in Selfridges. “When I moved to Rotherham, I made a throwaway comment that I’d love to work at a stately home. I’d never even heard of Wentworth Woodhouse but four months later I was employed by the Newbolds who owned the house at the time. The garden that the Trust now has is owed in part to the vision and investment the Newbolds had in the garden - and my backing of them. “The little buds we planted back
then that were yey-high have since gone on to become real talking points. When you’re busy it all seems to happen behind your back; you don’t realise the plants are rewarding you until you see them flower. Whoever takes on the garden after me will have the bones of a very good garden.”
Now the gardens are open to the public, most visitors who step through the charming archway from the Stable Block into the magical hidden landscape finally understand the scale of the workload. “People think it’s just a case of deadheading but it’s brutal. We’re not called the Bramble Bashers for nothing,” says Julie. “We get scratched to bits but it’s very satisfying. If you have a stressful
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