National Trust Membership

LameWolf

I'm with English Heritage on a one person membership, and it works out quite well for me; I'm in a wheelchair, so my husband gets in for free as my Carer, and I park for free with my Blue Badge. We visit Wrest Park quite often, as Mr LW loves it there.
I'd have to think twice about the outlay if it weren't for the disabled person "perks" though.

downshifter

I used to alternate between English Heritage and NT each year - they both have different kinds of properties, for example, Hardwick Old Hall, (EH) right next door to Hardwick 'New' Hall (NT) is much more interesting than the new one. Have now been with NT for a couple of years however and will stick with them for a while, pensioners rate this year. I know this is MSE but I don't tend to view it as whether I'm getting my money's worth, though I've been making more of an effort to get to various places recently; it's more my contribution to the work that NT does in preserving places such as those on the LLyn Peninsular - heaven on a teacake!

Lyme was mentioned and I don't much care for the house, - how the other half lived and all that - but the house is about a mile from the bus stop by the main gate and there's a shuttle bus to take you down. The grounds are fab and you can walk around them straight from the bus stop. The railway station is in walking distance too. NT is doing much more to promote some of the quirkier places, such as Calke which is strange - and smaller ones such as Plas yn Rhiw. So worth checking individual properties for public transport info.

I def wouldn't go for Historic Houses, I wanted to visit one last autumn and checked the website, there were some lovely pix of trees and a note saying the house/park is now closed for the season but here's some lovely pictures of what you would see if we allowed plebs in. Or something like that. I'm not paying towards these peoples' lifestyle choices thanks.

It's quite an expensive present though - lucky you!

DS