It’s facade work doing up this pile

SIZE matters when you are a stately home as the 606-ft frontage of this impressive pile shows.

But while Blenheim and Chatsworth are known round the world, crumbling Wentworth Woodhouse had lost its place in the limelight – until now.

The Georgian masterpiece, once the UK’s biggest private residence, was bought for £7million by a trust that aims to make it a national treasure, at a cost of up to £200million.

The facade is wider than Buckingham Palace – which it stood in for in film Darkest Hour – and the house is said to have 365 rooms, though trust chief Sarah McLeod said: “Occasionally, I find a room I’ve not found before.”

First priority is fixing the South Yorkshire house’s four acres of roof, for which Chancellor Philip Hammond found £7.6 million in his 2016 budget.

BIG JOB Chief Sarah McLeod