One of Europe’s biggest private stately homes is up for sale in South Yorkshire with a price tag in excess of £8m.

The Grade-1 listed Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, is larger than Buckingham Palace.

Clifford Newbold, who bought it in 1999, died in April and his family has announced the “reluctant decision” to sell the property.

According to campaign group Save Britain’s Heritage, an estimated £42m needs to be spent on repairs.

In a statement, the family said they wanted “someone to carry on our work and see the house in safe hands”.

Restoration work was under way in the house but has been hampered by subsidence caused by mining, the statement added.

Wentworth Woodhouse is described as “one of the finest Georgian houses in England” by Savills, the agency handling the sale.

Hampered by subsidence

Save Britain’s Heritage has previously said that English Heritage surveys showed £42m was needed to be spent on the house over the next 15 years for repairs and subsidence damage.

Wentworth Woodhouse, which is open to the public, sits in 82 acres of grounds and the earliest wing of the house was started in 1725.

The Palladian-style east wing has a front that extends for 606 ft (184m).

Mining in the area was a key source of income to help with running costs for the house’s former owners.

The interiors of the house are the work of three patrons -– the First and Second Marquess of Rockingham and the Fourth Earl Fitzwilliam.

The history of Wentworth Woodhouse and the nearby village of Wentworth is linked with three aristocratic families, the Wentworths, Watsons and Fitzwilliams.