National Trust free entry to properties...if only they were open!

GillyMurray

I downloaded a voucher for my son and his family to visit Stowe yesterday and told the kids how lovely it would be to look inside the house. They went.....house closed apparently. 3 fed up kids! they enjoyed the gardens but you can go into them free at any time. If the house was not open this should have been made clear. Disappointed.

Pollycat

The house at Stowe is not part of the National Trust so whatever time you visit you wouldn't have been able to get in - either on a free weekend pass or with your NT card (if you were a member) unless you arrange a tour and pay for it.

Notes

House and house tours: call 01280 818002 for details, charge including members. House (not National Trust) admission payable at National Trust reception

In my NT book, it gives opening times for "Gardens, shop, cafe & parlour rooms" and "Parkland" - nothing at all about the house being open.

On the NT website, it says (of 'free weekend participant" properties) :

London & South East: Ashdown House, Ashridge Estate – monument, Basildon Park, Bembridge Windmill, Boarstall Duck Decoy, Carlyle's House, Claydon House, Cliveden, Fenton House, Ham House and Garden, Hatchland, Hinton Ampner, Hughenden Manor, Long Crendon Courthouse, Mottisfont , Mottistone Manor Garden, Newtown Old Town Hall, Nuffield Place, Osterley Park and House, Rainham Hall, Sandham Memorial Chapel, Stowe Landscape Gardens, Sutton House, The Needles Old Battery and New Battery, The Vyne, Winchester City Mill, 2 Willow Road, Alfriston Clergy House, Bateman's, Bodiam Castle, Chartwell, Clandon Par, Claremont Landscape Garden, Emmetts Garden, Great Coxwell Barn, Grey's Court, Ightham Mote, Knole, Leith Hill, Monk's House, Nymans, Petworth House and Park, Polesden Lacey, Quebec House, Red House, River Wey and Godalming Navigations and Dapdune Wharf, Scotney Castle, Shalford Mill, Sheffield Park Garden, Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Smallhythe Place, South Foreland Lighthouse, Standen, Sutton House, Uppark House and Garden, Waddesdon Manor, Winkworth Arboretum

So nothing about the house at all.

This is what the NT website says about Stowe:

Breathtakingly beautiful landscape gardens

The scale, grandeur and beauty of Stowe has inspired writers, philosophers, artists, politicians and members of the public from the 18th century to the present day.

One of the most remarkable creations of Georgian England, Stowe was created by a family once so powerful they were richer than the king.

Since the National Trust acquired the gardens in the late 1980s, an ambitious programme of restoration has ensured that over 40 temples and monuments remain, gracing an inspiring backdrop of lakes and valleys with an endless variety of walks and trails, a delight to explore at any time of year.

So nothing about the house at all.

Entrance is not free - from NT website for Stowe:

Whole Property

• Adult: £8.20
• Child: £4.10
• Family: £20.50
• Group adult: £7.80
• Group child: £3.90

So all the information about what the NT offered was there for you to see.
I don't think the NT didn't make it clear - I think you just got it wrong by assuming the house was part of the NT.