South Yorkshire's grandest Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse, one of the finest Georgian houses in England has recently had a sale agreed to a Hong Kong based investment company.

Painting from A Complete History of the County of York by Thomas Allen (1828–30)

'Woodhouse' is hardly befitting a name. It's a grandiose mansion with the longest facade in Europe (>600ft) and is bigger than Buckingham Palace. The history is full of intrigue and feud - Wikipedia's article is a starting point.

At £8 million the Lake House Group may have been less than the price of some London flats, but it'll be many times that amount to restore and maintain.

The stunning house continues to open occasionally for tours, so it was decided to investigate the outlying areas to see what else the new owners will be taking on.

Follies dot the estate and surrounding areas - this is the Rockingham Monument or Mausoleum at dawn. It's no longer part of the estate.

About a mile away, fenced off Doric Temple forms an equilateral triangle with the above and Hoober Stand, a 100ft pyramidal watchtower, each visible from the other two.

Doric Temple

Hoober Stand (taken on a previous visit)

Ionic Temple. Hercules is clubbing a mythical beast.

Grade II* listed at-risk Camellia House - rear conservatory.

Front

West of the house is the former stables and riding school. It became part of Lady Mabel College, which taught would-be female PE teachers.

Now a handful of small businesses occupy the stables and some activity takes place in the newer part of the college which includes a swimming pool, but much lies derelict, including the riding school turned gym.

Magazines up to 50 years old - this Tatler is from the early 80s.

Detailed accounts of a previous owner.

Skylights.

Rain started to fall. These grey, functional halls of residence to the north were doubtful the deal-maker.

Finally, the front facade.

Thanks for viewing!

Frozen in time: Upper Heyford

Upper Heyford near Bicester in Oxfordshire served as an RAF airfield from 1918, mainly for training.

As the Cold War developed, Strategic Air Command took it over in 1951 as one of 4 American bases in southern England (others being RAF Brize Norton, RAF Fairford and RAF Greenham Common) to host bomber aircraft.

In its 'heyday'

Image courtesy http://www.raf-upper-heyford.org/Aerial_Views_Maps.html.

Squadrons or 'wings' including bombers and reconnaissance planes flew B35s, 47s, 52s, RB36s, B58 Hustlers, then F111s (Aardvarks, Ravens). It was the UK's only airbase where only the flight-line area required military identification for the public to access (Wikipedia has a detailed history).

In the 1980s a peace camp was set up to protest at nuclear armed and ready aircraft here. Around 2000 people took part and over 700 arrests were made.

By the early 1990s the Cold War was over, and the base wound down.

On the south side of the main road the residential buildings have been let out but the hospital and school were left to deteriorate - buildings are gradually being demolished and new houses are popping up.

Things are a bit better airside, with various outfits making use of the facilities. Police training, secure storage, vehicle logistics, boat building, film recording and such take place.

Incidentally the base featured in Octopussy as the West German USAF base 'Feldstadt'.

In the middle the control tower/weather station gave clearance for take off and checked flying conditions.

The 'smoke house', used by firefighters for practice.

A building near control tower. Every structure is numbered.

299, Avionics (west side of airstrip). According to a worker it had to be kept free of metallic matter.

Rear annex:

Another heavily defended building: 55th squadron's headquarters.

Rear view, although it's hard to know which is the front and back.

Inside:

Further round the airfield was nuclear missiles storage. Now it's used for storing fireworks.

There are 56 hardened hangars like this.

9 are in the Quick Reaction Alert facility in the north east which is where attack planes sat on 24 hour standby.

Back of hangar

The HQ of this bit, where the pilots would retire following their 4 hour stints sitting in the cockpit.

Worthy of further investigation.

Finally 126, the centre of operations - the command centre.

The door above opened to reveal...

Another locked door.

That concludes the tour, thanks for reading!