Chesterfield Market Festival

Today I visited Chesterfield's Market Festival - it was the regular Flea Market but with a 1940s theme

Chesterfield's Town Crier welcomed us to the festivities

The Home Guard were on parade

The friendly ARP Warden was looking after the wash-day products

Was he telling a 1940s joke?

Washing 1940s style

For details of this Living History group see link UK Home Front

There was also entertainment - George Formby (lookalike) and songs ...

... and some local dancers

There were also some vintage cars on display

For more details of the Market Festival see link Chesterfield Market Festival - well worth a visit

Wentworth Castle

Today we visited Wentworth Castle and Gardens. It is a grade I listed country house, the former seat of the Earls of Strafford, at Stainborough, near Barnsley.

In 1695, Thomas Wentworth expected to inherit the landed estate and vast wealth at Wentworth Woodhouse, some 7 miles to the south of Stainborough, when the 2nd Earl of Strafford died childless in 1695.  Unexpectedly, however, the estate was left to Thomas Wentworth’s cousin Thomas Watson.
 

Although Thomas Wentworth went on to command high positions as a soldier and diplomat in the service of King William III and Queen Anne, he remained determined to re-establish his claim to the title of Earl Strafford – but to have any chance of achieving this he required a large landed estate. An opportunity arose in 1708 to purchase what was then known as Stainborough Hall and Thomas seized his chance to create an estate suitable for a man of his importance.  Queen Anne duly re-created the Earldom of Strafford and Thomas became the first Earl Strafford of the second creation.

  
The Estate has been in the care of the Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust since 2001 and is open to the public year round 7 days a week. The castle's gardens were restored in the early 21st century, and are also open to visitors.

Dahlias in the John Arnold Garden - he was the first Head Gardener - in the 18th century

The Victorian Flower Garden

The Sun Monument was erected by William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, and later dedicated to the achievements of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, a renowned author, traveller and eccentric. It was the first landscape monument to pay homage to a living woman who was neither a monarch nor a goddess.

Remains of Stainborough Castle - a mock Motte and Bailey Castle constructed in 1720s

Then back through the Stumpery

The Rotunda was started in 1739, the year of Thomas Wentworth’s death and completed by his son William Wentworth in 1742. It is a round Ionic temple. Its plan is based on the temple of Vesta at Tivoli, near Rome and originally it stood clear of trees on a grassy hill.

For further details see Wentworth Castle