Young mother wins Wentworth Woodhouse art competition with painting that had been in her attic for 13 years

Mother-of-two Zoe Rowbottom, 33, submitted a graphic she created depicting Wentworth Woodhouse while studying design at Norton College in Sheffield back in 2007.

It had been lying forgotten about for 13 years until she saw the competition, and her print will now appear on a series of T-shirts sold in the house's gift shop when it re-opens.

Zoe, who did not follow a career in design and is now a business analyst for law firm Irwin Mitchell in Sheffield, grew up in the estate village of Elsecar and could see the ancestral seat of the Earls Fitzwilliam from her bedroom window.

She is now a mum to daughters Ada, five, and Nel, eleven months.

“When I created it all those years ago I thought it would be the perfect logo for the house. I can’t believe it is now going to be helping the Trust working hard to restore the place,” said Zoe.

“I still adore Wentworth Woodhouse and am very proud to be doing my bit.”

Entries came in from as far afield as Australia and one of the runners-up was scaffolder Neil Revell, who has been working on the restoration of Wentworth Woodhouse's roof and fell in love with the house while on the construction site.

An entry by Leeds Arts University student Ellie Fisher, from Tankersley, will be used as the basis for an entire product range to be sold in the gift shop. Ellie works in the cafe at Wentworth Garden Centre, which was built on the site of the mansion's kitchen gardens.

There were also categories for children, and one winner was seven-year-old Lucy Redfern, who lives in Wiltshire but has visited the house with her grandparents, who live in nearby Brampton Bierlow. She created a large cardboard model of Wentworth.

Four-year-old Reggie Small from Mexborough was one of the youngest entrants after mum Charlotte decided to use art to entertain him once his nursery had closed.

Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust chief executive Sarah McLeod said: “We launched our art competition during lockdown and were overwhelmed at the response.

“Supporters really got behind it on social media and put huge effort into their entries. We may not be open at the moment, but we’re so proud to know people’s hearts are still open to us.

“We want every entry to go on show at the house, which throughout history has been renowned for its artworks!”

As the house and gardens are owned by a charitable trust, a re-opening date has not yet been announced. Limited areas of the house are accessible for guided tours and the trustees are working towards opening up all areas of the mansion by 2040 following major renovation work.

The Fitzwilliams, who once owned vast ironworks and coal mines near Rotherham and Barnsley, leased the house to a teacher training college after World War Two, and the direct male line became extinct. They sold the mansion in the late 1980s, and the WWPT bought it to save for the nation in 2017. The family's descendants still own the estate village and farms.

The house is unique for the strong emotional pull it still exerts on local communities, with many of those still living in Wentworth and Elsecar having parents and grandparents who worked for the Fitzwilliams.

Many of the large volunteer force recruited since 2017 live locally, while others are former students of Lady Mabel College of Further Education, which was based in the house in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.