... Our other big annual expense is renewing our membership of the National Trust.
Everyone knows of the National Trust, of course, they are the ones who own the big stately homes and always buy big, expensive brown signs to direct tourists to their properties. But there are lots of benefits ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Free entry to expensive properties, lots to do and see, educational, somewhere to visit all over the country Disadvantages: Membership is a big expense every year
...renewing our membership of the National Trust.
Everyone knows of the National Trust, of course, they are the ones who own the big stately homes and always buy big, expensive brown signs to direct tourists to their properties. But there are lots of benefits to being a member of the Trust.
FREE ENTRY
Membership gets you in free to most properties (exceptions are small, and limited to properties outside their sole ... ...the subject of holidays, the National Trust have a list of cottages owned by them that they are prepared to rent out to careful holiday-makers. We haven’t tried any yet so can’t comment, but have heard good reports.
FREE ENTERTAINMENT
As long as they don't think it is educational, kids generally enjoy NT visits. The staff are predominantly volunteers - and mostly of the kindly, grandparent-type. They enjoy answering ... more
Being a life-long miser, I don't like having to pay to get in anywhere. I have got worse since I had children. Something that used to cost me £10 is now £40 because I am one of a family of 4. Hence, we tend to have a lot of family memberships. We are members of Chester Zoo, which is fun, educational and saves a lot of money (we are also able to get our friends in half-price). Our other big annual expense is renewing our membership of the National Trust.
Everyone knows of the National Trust, of course, they are the ones who own the big stately homes and always buy big, expensive brown signs to direct tourists to their properties. But there are lots of benefits to being a member of the Trust.
FREE ENTRY Membership gets you in free to most properties (exceptions are small, and limited to properties outside their sole control). This is worth quite a lot when you consider that a lot of properties cost nearly£5 to get in.
FREE CAR PARKING Where there is a car parking charge, it is often free to members. One of these that we regularly use is Formby Squirrel Reserve. It is a beautiful part of the North-West coastline and home to a thriving population of endangered red squirrels (and a few nosey grew ones). It normally costs £2.70 per car to get in, but we can go every weekend if we choose, for nothing. We did try this for a while but the kids got so fed up they said they would rather go to a museum, so we realised they were seriously sick of the place.
CHEAPER HOLIDAYS Wherever you go on holiday in this country there is sure to be an NT place nearby. It is so handy to be able to plan a free day there, when you are a member. On the subject of holidays, the National Trust have a list of cottages owned by them that they are prepared to rent out to careful holiday-makers. We haven’t tried any yet so can’t comment, but have heard good reports.
FREE ENTERTAINMENT As long as they don't think it is educational, kids generally enjoy NT visits. The staff are predominantly volunteers - and mostly of the kindly, grandparent-type. They enjoy answering children's endless questions and usually have an armoury of amusing (“Laugh kids or I'll kick you again”) anecdotes to enthral the little ones. Also, most properties have quizzes for children, which can keep them entertained for hours (and away from the antiques, although my daughter can be relied on to find something priceless to lean on when filling in her quiz). The grounds are often entertaining as well, especially as properties were often family homes so there may be tree-houses and mazes to explore.
You also get the NT magazine 3 times a year and the chunky National Trust Handbook (which looks like it is worth about £8). The magazine includes a wildlife poster which our kids love and always fight over. The handbook is very useful. We leave it in the car and have been surprised at the number of properties we have found on days out and holidays that we wouldn’t otherwise have come across.
Individual membership costs £31, with additional members after that costing £21.50. A family group is £58. Children under 13 are £14.50 (it only goes up to £15 once they are 13 and stays that cheap until they are 25).
They also offer Life Membership, which is a one-off payment of £740 for adults, £495 for pensioners. I suppose the value of that would be determined by how well you feel!
=====
OUR FAVOURITE NT PROPERTIES ~ Erddig, near Wrexham (North Wales) ~ Erddig is my favourite, because of its Chinese & Tapestry rooms, magnificent walled garden and the fact that the owners were vegetarian (so are we). The owners sounded very unusual for their time, and Erddig is famous because of the close and kind relationship the owners had with their servants. It is a living property, not a mausoleum. There is a bakery (the smell is wonderful), joiner’s shop, laundry, stables, smithy, etc. The volunteers work at creating an authentic environment, which is particularly magical for children. It is one of the more expensive properties, at £6 per adult, but one where NT members are absolutely free (including parking).
~ Plas Newydd, Anglesey, North Wales ~ Plas Newydd is the ancestral seat of the Marques of Anglesey (the current one still lives there). It is a favourite with my husband, who is a hobby painter, because of the famous mural by Rex Whistler. His largest painting, it takes up an entire wall of one of the rooms in the house. It has a 3D effect and is so detailed and clever. Honestly, I could look at it for hours (not something I normally say about paintings, they bore me rigid). There is a permanent Rex Whistler exhibition in the house as well, which is well worth a visit. Our children love the grounds – there is a new adventure playground and an old tree house. The grounds are extensive and you can easily spend an entire day there, as there are cruises available on the Menai Straits. Adults are £4.50 to get in (car parking free).
Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire is well worth a visit. It is both interesting and educational. It is a working Georgian cotton mill and was particularly fascinating to my Dad, a retired engineer. It is on the more expensive end of the scale, at £5.80 for adults. There is also a £2 parking charge, but NT members are free for both that and the entrance.
Rufford Old Hall is near where we live, so we tend to visit it a lot. It is one of Lancashire’s finest 16th-century buildings, all timber framed and authentic. Shakespeare was supposed to have performed there. It’s a cheaper one at £3.80 for adults.
I was disappointed in Chirk Castle, also in Wales. It is a massive place, but lots of the rooms were not open to the public. They say that they are only able to furnish and maintain a limited number of rooms, but I think it would be beneficial to open rooms that aren’t furnished as well, if only to give a more real feel of the size of the property. Adults are £5 each.
=====
The National Trust owns over 200 properties in England and Wales, together with thousands of acres of coast and countryside. It was founded way back in 1895, by a group of Victorian philanthropists who were concerned about the growing industrialisation of the countryside. They set up the Trust to preserve places of historic interest or natural beauty permanently. Lots of impoverished aristocrats hand their crumbling mansions over to the Trust. That way they get to see their property transformed before their eyes back to its former glory and get to live in comfort in it for life. All they have to put up with is hoards of plebeian tourists tramping through it. Actually, I think that must be quite hard to live with, but the benefits of having some heat on in the winter must outweigh the disadvantages.
They have a very good web site, packed with information about their properties. www.nationaltrust.org.uk. It is very useful for finding out about events (individual properties regularly host all sorts of events from craft fairs to concerts), holidays in NT cottages, volunteering, etc. The events directory on their site is searchable – through area, themes, dates – and is well worth a look to see what is going on. For instance, we are going to Anglesey soon, so I did a search under Anglesey + August. I found out that I can delight my family by taking them on a Guided Archaeological Walk (to visit a Neolithic cromlech, be still my beating heart), an Open Air Jazz Concert, and a combat display between Welsh soldiers and Anglo-Norman knights – actually, my son would quite like that one, may give it a go. The site also has regular foot-and-mouth updates. At the moment about 95% of NT houses and gardens are open; 75% of countryside properties are open.
Although it is a charity, and independent of government, the Trust has some unusual powers. Apparently it has statutory power to declare land inalienable, meaning that the land cannot be compulsorily purchased against the Trust’s wishes. So if the local council want to build a road through your granny’s garden, maybe one way round it would be to get her to donate it to the National Trust!
Advantages: Properties nationwide, well established, volunteer opportunities. Disadvantages: A little expensive?
...of the foundation of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, showed remarkable insight into what has now become a national institution. I (and no doubt many other members) am a huge fan of the National Trust, what it has become and what it stands for – I do hope you will find this (extensive!) op useful and informative, but if I have managed to miss anything out, then please feel free to comment and I will do my ... ...National Trust was founded by three very different people – Octavia Hill, Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley - during the latter part of the nineteenth century. As supporters of the early preservation movements of this time and keen social campaigners, they felt a deep apprehension about the uncontrolled industrial development that was gathering pace in Britain’s cities at this time, and aimed to set up a body that could act as ...
Collingwood21 02.06.2001 (23.08.2001)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Trust Buildings and Property
Advantages: Does great job conserving, provides good visitor experience, membership can save money Disadvantages: Costs without membership can be high
...main reason I'm reviewing the National Trust (referred to from now on as NT) is because I used to work for them. "Bias!", "Scandal!", I hear the more dramatical of you cry. Perhaps so, but we'll see...
NT was formed at the end of the 1800's to conserve properties in England of natural beauty, such as gardens, stately homes, abbeys and so on. It is similar to English Heritage in that it conserves some of our nation's history, but different in that ... ...do apply to see many National Trust properties, and most of these are a reflection upon the work that has to be done to conserve the site. These obviously vary from place to place - whereas some might only charge you to park your car, others might charge you an entrance fee. However, Trust members get all of this for free: Car Parking, Admission and any other typical charges (except special events and gifts etc.). The membership costs I believe are ...
Pleb 21.09.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Trust Buildings and Property
...have recently visited Uppark House, National Trust property, near Petersfield, Hampshire, and was inspired immediately to share it with you all.
I Shall give you a brief history.
The two-storey house was built in the late 17th Century for Lord Grey, Earle of Tankerville and has a beautiful interior, which originally dates from the mid 18th Century. Many of you may vaguely remember, though, the tragic fire that gutted the house on 30th August 1989. ... ...along with many members of National Trust staff, who worked tirelessly to remove pieces of the priceless collections of portraits, tapestries, furniture and fine ceramic antiques. Approximately 95% of the upper floor was destroyed, but 75% of the lower floor and basement were miraculously saved. As the building is a listed building, nothing could be thrown away and everything from the fire was saved in 30,000 dustbin size buckets!! This all had to ...
fidgetbum 17.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Trust Buildings and Property
Advantages: such lovely places to visit, all of the above Disadvantages: some children may be bored
...have been members of the National Trust for 2 years now, and we have more than had our money's worth. Current rates per year are:
Individual - £31 plus each additional member at the same address £21.50
Family - £58 for 2 adults and all children or grandchildren under 18
Family plus one adult - £44 for 1 adult and all children
Child- £14.50 for under 13's
Young Person/Education Group- £15 must be 13-15
When you join you get a brilliant handbook ... ...car park etc that the National Trust own. It lists all the directions, addresses, phone numbers, opening times etc. Everything is listed under the county that they are in, plus there is also an index by property name in case you don't know where somewhere is.
We pay a family membership and we worked out that we only have to visit about 8 properties a year to have broken even (that is not even counting child admittances).
We find it useful as we ...
anjib 29.04.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Trust Buildings and Property
Advantages: gardens are lovely Disadvantages: house in not very exciting to look at
...was Heritage day and many National Trust Properties where open to the public with free entry. Being local we had visited Knightshayes many years ago but thought we would take this opportunity to take the kids for a freebie.
The house was disappointing to view, particulaly with kids. There is no kitchen or a nursery to view, which I always think are the most interesting rooms in a house as they have changed the most over time. Just bedrooms and reception ... ...but the normal adult admission to house and garden is £8.20. I know the National Trust have to raise a lot of money to be able to maintain their properties but I do feel that this is a lot of money for a look around a house and gardens. ...
twyford4 14.09.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of National Trust Buildings and Property
Transport links
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "National Trust Buildings and Property"
Advantages: Flamboyant house with picturesque gardens & parkland. Disadvantages: Not totally wheelchair friendly.
Knightshayes Court is a Victorian country house in Bolham, about 2 miles north of Tiverton, in Devon. We followed the signs from J 27 of the M5.
The building was richly decorated by William Burges, who was known for his eccentricity. The style made me think it looked older than it actually is.
Visitors to this flamboyant NationalTrust run estate, are first asked to visit the old stable block to purchase a ticket, or show their membership card (which gains members entrance to most Trustproperties without extra charges). A lot of the car parking spaces here are under the shelter of trees, which we were glad of, as we visited on a warm day.
The house is relatively modern by NationalTrust standards, but the thing that most struck me about the grandest and largest room, was how much it resembled the Great Hall of Tudor ...
Advantages: Fabulous food, lovely service, super people Disadvantages: a tad on the pricey side
?
***********
There's a limited range of food available for home dining - more expensive than M&S but excellent quality. They also do event catering.
When's it Open?
**************
Usually closed for most of January and also on Sundays and Mondays. Lunch runs from noon to 2 pm and dinner from 7 to last orders at 9.30. That might sound early but things don't keep rocking late in country Suffolk! Be sure to ring ahead - especially on Friday or Saturday evenings.
What else can I do?
***********************
There are two stately homes within a few minutes walk - Melford Hall (a NationalTrustproperty) and Kentwell Hall (great Tudor building with regular special re-enactment events). Down in the village - lots of antique shops and little boutiques. Almost no 'chain stores'. Lots of tea shoppes and scone opportunities.
Oh, nearly forgot, one final ...
Advantages: Free to National Trust members, Interesting to all ages, Good restaurant Disadvantages: Shop quite pricey
.
Quarry Bank Mill is the best preserved Georgian factory colony in the country. It is owned and run by the NationalTrust, but is far from being what you may think of as the average NT property. Mention the words ?NationalTrust? to most people, and images of Jane Austen type grand houses tend to spring to mind, great country piles with everything roped off and people talking in hushed voices. I hated such places as a child. Ruined castles were more fun to me, as at least there you behave like a child without anyone looking reprovingly at you. Quarry Bank Mill, however, is different. It is an active, exciting, noisy, hands-on place that positively encourages children. Perhaps that is why I have remembered it, whilst all those grand houses have merged together in my memory. The property consists of two separate buildings ? the mill ...
Similar products and search queries by other users »
National Property, National Trust Property, National Buildings Property, National and Property, National Trust Buildings Property, National Trust and Property, National Buildings and Property, National Trust Buildings and Property
Are you the manufacturer / provider of National Trust Buildings and Property? Click here
