Captain's Log 

Red Deer

Three Fallow deer were in the woods just before the Rotunda, but they soon scooted when they saw me. A Grey Squirrel scampered up a tree and then sat down to watch me amble through his pantry. I thought there might have been some Red Deer around here, near to the water source, but they were obviously not thirsty this morning. I walked around the impressive Rotunda. There was a wonderful view back across the park, up the hill towards the mansion. I headed back towards the deer fence. I could see the Red Deer up on their hill, keeping an eye on me. I had a surprise for them. 

I walked through a gate in the deer fence, back into the safe zone. I gave a sigh of relief; I’d not been chased by any Velociraptors or even by the cows. By following the deer fence back towards the mansion, I was able to sneak around the back of the Red Deer on their hill. The wind wasn’t in my favour though and they initially probably smelt, rather than saw me. A few Does stood to attention and gave me a hard stare. I thought they might have moved on, but they must have learned that the deer fence offers them protection from humans, and they stood their ground. There was a massive stag laid down on the other side of the herd. Frustratingly, he wouldn’t turn around for a photo. He had gigantic antlers that looked like the branches of a winter tree. I’ve always thought it a shame that humans don’t have antlers since they’d make a handy place to hang your key rings. You’d never lose your car keys again. There again your vehicle options would now be limited to cabriolets and so maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea. I left the Red Deer to hangout and continued my journey towards the mansion. 

The Gardens

I had a pit stop at the excellent National Trust café and refuelled with a mug of coffee and a cheese scone. Satiated, I made my way around to the gardens at the back of the house. There is a wonderful avenue of Lime trees that lead up into the gardens. They looked stunning with the sun shining through the Autumn leaves. I decided to give the Fernery a miss. I have to confess that I was a little underwhelmed on a previous visit and I figured that they’d be dying off anyway at this time of year. It wasn’t long before I reached Stainborough Castle. Well, a mock castle, rather than a real castle. Mock or not, it is a surprisingly tiring climb to the top of the tower using the metal spiral staircase. There were four other people at the top and it took a bit of organising to manoeuvre in the confined space. It was a fine view from its summit though. The castle was surrounded by woodland and it did feel that I was floating in the canopy of the surrounding trees. 

Having breached the defences of the castle, I made my way back to the mansion via the Sun Monument, a tall slender obelisk. Ironically, it is surrounded by trees and I doubt whether it actually sees much sun. A lot of the gardens had been taped off. It looked like some National Trust volunteers were busy carrying out maintenance work. I did think about dropping in for another coffee at the café on my way back to the carpark, but I was still zinging from the previous mug.  

Autumn is a brilliant time to go to Wentworth Castle Gardens. The trees are never more colourful and the Deer more impressive. Just make sure you can run faster than a Velociraptor though…or a moody Belted Galloway. 

The cattle weren't any problem and I headed on the track towards the Rotunda. The Red Deer looked to be on their usual spot on the high point of the park area on my right. The sun was shining towards me and I could only see the silhouette of them. I waited a while to see if they'd shift, but they were clearly happy grazing there. I started making way along the woodland, at the side of The Serpentine. The Serpentine is really just some muddy pools that dry up completely at its northern end. It's a shame really that they can't get fresh water running through the area. I came across some Fallow Deer in the woods and also plenty of grey squirrels. I crossed over the dried area and started walking back on the other side of The Serprentine towards the Rotunda. On a previous visit, I'd seen Red Deer drinking water from the end muddy pool. They were absent today, although there were plenty of hoof prints around that they'd made on previous visits. I carried out a circuit of the Rotunda, and then headed back to the House along the Great South Avenue. It was a lot busier now and I noticed that some people had disturbed the Red Deer from their high spot. They were now in the middle of the parkland. I made my way around to them again to take some photos. There were a few stags with fine antlers. I waited around for 15 minutes but there was no rutting. I headed back to the carpark, where it was so busy that they' opened up an overflow carpark.

It had been a brief visit and a nice walk. It was a shame I'd not seen any rutting. Maybe next time.

Foiled by the lack of access to the Menagerie wood, I had better luck with the extensive Ivas and Broom Royd woods. A large obelisk, the Queen Anne's monument, stands on the edge of the Ivas wood. Queen Anne was the last of the Stuarts, and the obelisk was basically a middle finger to the movement of the royal line to the Hanoverians. Thomas Wentworth obviously cared about royalty more than I do. The other large column is in the Broom Royd wood, and this celebrates the 2nd Duke Of Argyll. This obelisk is purportedly another middle finger to the political establishment in that, shortly before his death, the Duke had been punished for opposing the government's harsh anti-Jacobite policies in Scotland. It seems Thomas was not shy at saying what he thought. Looking at the figure on the top of the column, I thought the Duke Of Argyll had rather a feminine air about him. It was only when I read a nearby information board, that I realised the figure is actually Minerva the Goddess, and not the Duke.

I walked back through the deer sanctuary. All the Red Deer had moved from their usual haunt on the hill, to the one remaining pond. I hoped they weren't too thirsty or they'd drain Wentworth Gardens of its last remaining lake.

I was disappointed that the National Trust greeter didn't doff his cap as I left the premises.

The thunder followed me as I trotted away from the castle, down to a tall stone obelisk they call the Sun Monument. There wasn't much sun about at that moment and so I drifted into a delightful circular garden where the flower beds were awash with colour. It was soon awash with rain though and I was very lucky that the garden contained a shelter. I sat in there for a quarter of an hour watching the rain come down like stair rods.

I wanted to explore some of the trails on the grounds, but time and the weather seemed to contrive to stop me. Despite the unpromising  thunder clouds accumulating above me I set off from the grounds on a trail known as 'The Great South Avenue'. A farm keeps deer on the estate and I went though a gate that allowed me into their  area. Within a few minutes I spotted an impressive looking Fallow  deer in some woodland. I always feel a bit nervous around deer. They are impressively strong and fast. Those antlers look like they could easily poke your eye out too. Even so, as soon as he spotted me, he started running away into the woods. The females were grazing up on the hillside a couple of hundred of metres away, A few of them kept a careful eye on me as I walked by.

The path brought me to an impressive looking rotunda. A loud clap of thunder sounded as I started taking photos. The weather looks so perfect in my picture of the rotunda; blue skies and white clouds. Behind me though, a maelstrom of black clouds was forming.

The next 15 minutes were a bit of a blur as I dashed back towards the carpark. The rain hit me about 5 minutes before I got to my car. It was a shame I had to leave early. There were plenty of interesting things to see around the grounds and I'd only scratched the surface in terms of exploring the trails. I decided that I would return again in the near future.