'Turning the tide': Wentworth Woodhouse hails 38 per cent income boost after 'incredibly tough year'

The report said: “We have seen increases in income in all of our major trading areas, but particularly in hospitality, which saw a 39 per cent increase in income compared to prior year and events which saw a 36 per cent increase in income.

"We did however see a significant fall in filming income, as we had no major film contract during 24/25.”

Unrestricted expenditure increased by 23.6 per cent to £3.1m from a prior £2.5m; a rise the trust said had been drive by “an above inflation increase in core costs such as energy, insurance and minimum wage rates”.

A deficit on unrestricted funds of £14,867 was recorded when a provision in relation to costs associated with partnership funding on one of the site’s regeneration projects was taken into account,

The results added: “After an incredibly tough year in 23/24, the team at Wentworth Woodhouse were tasked with turning the tide to avoid any further corrosion of reserves in 24/25. This thankfully, has been achieved with a far more positive result in the year covered in this report.”

The trust purchased Wentworth Woodhouse in 2017 for £7m at a point when the house and grounds, which for hundreds of years had been at the heart of social and economic life across a swathe of South Yorkshire as the home of the influential Fitzwilliam family, had fallen into major decline.

The Grade I listed Georgian mansion standing in 87 acres of grounds was once one of the great houses in England but fell into decline and decay after the Government ordered in 1947 that open-pit coal mining should take place within 100 yards of the house.

Tens of millions of pounds is being spent on the ongoing process of restoring the site to its full former glory. Its previous accounts covering the 2023/24 financial year was a period when an actors’ and writers’ strike in America hit expected incomes for the trust as filming projects at the house were called off. A £272,000 loss on its unrestricted funds was recorded with the trust having to make use of its reserves to balance the books.

In contrast, the trust’s free reserves increased during 2024/25 to stand at £173,000 by the end of the year, compared to £157,000 at the same point 12 months earlier.

But the trust said it is working on a recovery plan to further boost reserves, with an ambition to eventually hold £1.7m – a figure sufficient to cover six months of its unrestricted operating costs.

Timothy Cooke OBE, trust chairman, also paid tribute to his late predecessor Dame Julie Kenny, who died in February.

He said: “Julie had an unrivalled passion and commitment to the project, a determination to restore the house, to ensure it is a catalyst for positive change and a source of pride for the local community.

"Julie will be greatly missed by former trustees and by all of us who are currently committed to the house and its future and who now will carry her unique legacy forward.”