National Trust Annual Membership

What made me join the National Trust? Well one night at work my friend was talking about her membership and how great it was and how her and her family had gained so much from it. She explained to me that the even after visiting only a few of the properties, she would have spent over what the family membership had cost her. That was me inspired so I went home and immediately joined on line. When I informed her that I had been awarded 3 months free ...
...You can join at a National Trust property when you are visiting and gain free entry there and then if you have not joined previously. I joined on line and am always looking on line which has lots of information worth looking at with activities in your area (or a different area if you are visiting somewhere).

The website is www.nationaltrust.org and I would encourage anyone to look there.

We have a family membership ... more

What made me join the National Trust? Well one night at work my friend was talking about her membership and how great it was and how her and her family had gained so much from it. She explained to me that the even after visiting only a few of the properties, she would have spent over what the family membership had cost her. That was me inspired so I went home and immediately joined on line. When I informed her that I had been awarded 3 months free for paying on line and would be receiving a free cool box, she was green with envy. This must have been 3 years ago and I have kept my membership up ever since.

Prices.
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You can join at a National Trust property when you are visiting and gain free entry there and then if you have not joined previously. I joined on line and am always looking on line which has lots of information worth looking at with activities in your area (or a different area if you are visiting somewhere).

The website is www.nationaltrust.org and I would encourage anyone to look there.

We have a family membership which costs £77.50. If you are joining for the first time however it only costs £58.13. To benefit from this saving you need to pay by direct debit. This of course means that next year you pay the full price but you can cancel the direct debit if you decide not to rejoin. We received a free cool bag. The gift has changed now because I bought an annual membership as a present and discovered that the gift is now a picnic rug.

I will list all of the prices underneath with the saving if paying by direct debit for new members in brackets.

Individual :- £43.50 (£32.63)

Family 2 adults 2 children:- £77.50 (£58.35) Children under 18

Joint, 2 adults:- £72.50 (£54.38)

Family one adult:- £58.50 (£43.88)

Child:- £19.50 (£14.63)

Young person £19.50 (£14.63) A young person is 13-25.

You can see that there are good combinations for different families. It allows for single parents and the family memberships can be for children or grandchildren at the same address. Child membership would be for a family with more than 2 children. We only have one child and we still pay the same as for 2 children but it works out at excellent value.

Lifetime membership is available which is a bit beyond my means but would appeal to some.

Individual life:- £1060
Joint lifetime:- £1275
Joint family lifetime:- £1490
Pensioner lifetime:- £695
Joint pensioner lifetime:- £840 (only one needs to be retired over 60)

There does not appear to be an online discout for this one. The joint pensioner seems good value to me if you are joining at 60.

What do you get?
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You receve a membership pack containing lots of information, a magazine, a car sticker to display for free parking, a membership handbook corresponding to the year and of course, your free gift. The membership cards are stuck to the letter and you get one or two depending on the membership (two for a family). Don`t lose your cards though and if you forget them you have to pay and it is not refundable. It is quite exciting when opening this pack. I can spend ages looking and planning where to go.

The car sticker is useful (though I always show my cards anyway as the sticker does not have a date on it). Many National Trust properties offer free parking anyway, but for those who don`t, you can park free on production of your cards. Most places that I have visited have benefited from free parking but Wembury beach is near me and the parking is not free meaning that if I went there I used to have to pay for parking. Now being a National Trust member, I can park for free. This is just a beach, there is no property, but there is a National Trust tea room.

National Trust Handbook.
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The handbook is 400 pages long. There is an index in the back in alphabetical order and the book is also divided into areas. I am in the South West and there are about 90 pages dedicated to the South West alone. I spend time looking at this, finding out how far attractions are from my home and planning when to visit. You can also print out from the website and then look on the AA route planner and write the miles and time that it wold take to get there. You can plan you day that way.

The book shows the address of each place, the price to get in (for non members so you can work out how much you have saved), what is there, opening times and number of days open and the time of year that each one is open.

The book has a key to show various things, a few of which are castle, events, nature reserve, parking, cycling, learning, dogs, pub.

It also shows access for disabled, catering, steps, drop off point, seating.

This is useful as for example, some people like to take their dogs, but they are not allowed everywhere. For those with a disability, you can check in advance of facilities.

Types of Properties.
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The National Trust owns a lot of stately homes which have beautiful gardens. Lots have long walks making it easy to spend the whole day. I am not going to go into the places that I have visited because this review is about the membership. When visiting a National Trust property, if viewing the house as well as the grounds, you are kindly asked to view the house first to minimise dirt. They discourage walking in the garden or walks first and then entering the house with dirty boots. High heels are also not allowed, that is stilletos that may cause damage to the floors.

We usually visit the house first as recommended. My son is 8 and children are always offered a quiz sheet on entering the house to help keep them occupied. He loves this. Generally the quizes are simple though some are more straightforward than others. The children are given a clipboard (usually) and pencil to be returned on completion when they are given a sticker. The questions relate to the property, encouraging them to look around. They encourage learning, in a recent visit to Cotehele Mill, the questions were about how the Mill worked meaning that the child had to think and seek out information. In the stately homes the questions may be to find something in the room or there may be a question about something. The volunteers, there is usually one in each room, are keen to help or gently point the child in the right direction without spoiling the fun for them. My son amazes me, he is not exactly quiet. Whenever we enter the property he whispers and continues to whisper all the way around the house. As soon as we are outside, he becomes his usual noisy self. I think it is good that he is respectful when in there.

The gardens that we have visited so far have been magnificent. They are very well maintained with a variety of plants. They offer a pleasant walk. There are places to sit down and enjoy the scenery. I must admit these vary. One that we visited recently, Colyton FIshacre, had fantastic gardens. They were very steep in places though making it hard work viewing them all. I am fairly fit so I should imagine that some people would find it difficult. The views were breathtaking though of the coast and the woodland and the gardens. It is great to have a variation of properties though, it would be boring if they were all the same. There were flat places in the garden aswell so it was not necesary to climb a more difficult terrain to enjoy the foliage.

A lot of the properties have walks in addition to the gardens. On entering the properties, if you fancy a long walk, you need to keep your eye open. We recently visited Castle Drogo twice. The first time we walked the grounds which are large and you have the option of which colour markers to follow. There is also a quiz to find certain things on the way around which we enjoyed. The reason we went back later on is because my friend infomed us of the walk outside of the property. This took us a couple of hours I think an there was a pub in the middle where we stopped for lunch before walking back a different way.

Events.
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If you look at the website it will inform you of any events in your area. They may be just for the sake of it, or seasonal. For the last few years we have been to the property closest to us, Saltram House for Halloween. This starts in the evening and there are lots of people dressed up. We have had to pay one year though, even though we are members, there may a charge for a lot of these events. It is great fun though, there is a quiz (not that easy) which takes some time and the child gets a small prize at the end. The events are many and varied, you really do need to keep in touch with the website to not miss out. There is an equestrian day this weekend at Cotehele which may interest me if I have nothing else on, but I think there is an additional charge. There are other events with carriages and whatever is central to that particular property. We have been on several Easter Egg hunts. If at the property you can then pay a small amount (about £1) to do this quiz. There are little eggs as a prize at the end. It is always worth a look to see what is going on in your area.

What else does the National Trust Offer?
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It is possible to become a National Trust volunteer which may involve being in a room in a house and explaining to visitors the history and other significant facts. Volulnteers benefit from lunch, and entry as well as opportunity for social events, look at your local vacancies for the full volunteer benefits.

It is also possible to go on a working holiday from 2 days to week. The National Trust gains revenue from this and the people going on `holiday` learn skills in stonewalling for example depending on the holiday in hostel type accomodation.

Charity.
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The National Trust is a charity, completely reliant on memberships, entry fees, donations, legacies and revenue raised from commercial operations. They protect their properties and open them to the public and look after forests, beaches, farmland, downs, moorland. They are over 300 historic houses and 49 industrial monuments and mills.

Free day out?
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It can be but there are also places to spend money. The properites all seem to have a gift shop. When paying admissions or entering by card, there are guidebooks available for sale. It is often worth buying one though to gain the maximum from your visit. There is food available at most of the properties. The one we went to recently had a proper restaurant, the service was good aswell as the food. Other places offer things more like snacks, scones and cream etc. They are a touch expensive but the revenue goes back into the property, the land, the other National Trust work to maintain the fabulous scenery. Even when we went on the long walk and stopped at the pub, we still spent money, except didn`t eat on Trust property. Of course it is possible to be organised and take your own food and drink. If you are walking a long way though it an be heavy to carry and it is nice to stop for a scone and jam and coffee at the end of a walk. Some of the properties may be a bit far so it would take more in travelling costs to get there.

Is it worth joining?
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Yes it is. The first year we didn`t do much though we did visit the amount to make up the membership costs. This year we have visited a lot more so we would have spend considerably more in admission costs if we were not members. I have quite a few places earmarked for when we have a spare day, some a little bit further afield. When we visit Lanhydrock it apparently takes 2 hours to go around the house so we will visit that one when we don`t feel like a long walk outside. Some of the places are not open every day and the opening times are different depending on the times of year, these are all listed in the members book. We don`t visit places that often, but we have still got our moneys worth and more. It usually saves us at least £15 a visit for the 3 of us, the last place saved us £21. When paying for entry, generally you can pay for the house and the garden or just the garden. It is great to walk in free with the cards. The good thing about membership is, we have visited lots of places that we would not have visited otherwise. Also if we just have a couple of hours spare, we can visit Saltram gardens for free filling in the time and having a good time. It would not be worth paying for such a short time.

I would not recommend the membership for those who don`t like stately homes, castles and gardens. For those who like looking around big old houses and enjoy learning the history of the different places it is great. The houses are all different, some have carriages, some have armour, Overbecks has lots of stuffed animals. Of course you don`t have to look at just the both, you can look at just the house or just the garden. Or you can embark on a long walk for those with a long walk and make a day of it. The membership has a lot to offer but for those looking for a bit more excitement, it would be worth an occasional visit rather than becomeing a member.

I would also recommend joining on line to obtain discount for the first year. 

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