National Trust Membership

MMF007

I am staggered by the entrance fees this year. I assume NT tactics to 'encourage' membership because "look how much you can save", and they also get even more gift aid from the Treasury via our taxes.

I think PN has a great suggestion above.

roddydogs

Whats !!!8217t in a lot of posts?

MMF007

It is a glitch on iphone users posts, making an apostrophe appear as that sequence.
Apparently there is a tip somewhere on how to change settings on iphone to stop it but I am not a user so never looked into it. HTH

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

roddydogs wrote: »

Whats !!!8217t in a lot of posts?

That be MSE unable to take words like don't in Macs!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

My partner and I looked into it and concluded that we wouldn't be able to visit most of their properties as we don't drive. We do however have English Heritage membership, as many of their places seem much more accessible on public transport.

I went to Cornwall with friends in a hire car last year; for a longer holiday NT membership would have been worthwhile for parking near beaches.

[Deleted User]

I too have NTScotland and its half the price of the NT but you can visit any property no matter where in the country. I also have EH and three of my DGS are on my card so they get in for free until they are 19. But then I do enjoy looking and visiting the old houses and when I amon holiday or out for days with the family we all like to see how the other half lived

Hermia

MMF007 wrote: »

I am staggered by the entrance fees this year.

That seems to be the case with a lot of these memberships. I used to have an Art Pass and loved it so I was thinking of joining again recently. The price is now around £70 for a single membership! Even if I used it twice a month it would not be worth it because galleries and museums are not that expensive where I live. I wonder if they base their prices on London exhibition prices or on how often a retired couple would use the pass. Not much use for the rest of us!

I once had Historic Houses membership and that was a fun one. They cover a lot of the independently owned houses. They tend to be the ones that are expensive to get into and where there is a lot to do. I definitely made my money back that year, but again not having a car now would be an issue.

PasturesNew

I think that if you have "other/furren" NT cards... you can't park for free - and parking can cost £7-10 in their car parks. To make it trickier.... it'll be either hidden in the small print, and/or site specific so you have to dig it out/double check.

For me, paying a single membership, with nobody getting in free with me, it's a very expensive purchase ... which is one reason I don't have it.

£69 for one single.
£120 for a family of two adults and up to 10 (yes TEN!) children or grand-children!!
£75 for a single adult and up to TEN children!

Hermia

PasturesNew wrote: »

For me, paying a single membership, with nobody getting in free with me, it's a very expensive purchase ... which is one reason I don't have it.

£69 for one single.
£120 for a family of two adults and up to 10 (yes TEN!) children or grand-children!!
£75 for a single adult and up to TEN children!

Crumbs! I am five foot tall so maybe I need to carry a doll and hang around the entrance in the hope I can follow a family in and be mistaken for their kid!

The difference between single and couples membership for some of these organisations is odd. I can understand a discount for a couple but the discount is often huge even though the only saving is that they will only be sending out one set of literature. I did once go to a National Trust focus group type thing and they were talking about the problems they were having attracting young people and especially young professionals. I did point out that maybe if their literature and advertising weren't full of pictures of elderly couples and young families they might attract other people. I don't know many young professionals who feel that the National Trust is doing anything to attract them.

lemonlolly

Car parks are a big part of NT membership, so it definitely changes the equation if you don't drive. Our regular visiting spots all have paying car parks. There are now quite a lot of people that have membership just for this purpose if they regularly do parkrun at an NT site.
The day out present idea sounds lovely, particularly if there's somewhere you have in mind to go.