Membership of the National Trust has reached five million for the first time, the conservation charity says.
The BBC writes:
The organisation, which looks after historic homes and natural sites ‘for the nation’, had just 278,000 members when it began recording rates in 1970. National Trust chairman Tim Parker said people were craving peace from an increasingly ‘busy, noisy world’. The Giant’s Causeway in Antrim was its most popular site, with 665,681 visits last year. Also popular were Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire (475,604 visits), Attingham Park in Shropshire (466,658) and Belton House in Lincolnshire (450,293).
In total, 24.5 million people – both members and non-members – visited National Trust sites that charge an entrance fee, while there were an estimated 200 million trips to the coastal and countryside sites that can be explored for free. Mr Parker said the National Trust was ‘truly unique’ because it looked after a vast array of historic places in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – from archaeological remains, coastlines and forests, to entire villages and even 39 pubs. He said:
‘That suggests the country’s love affair with its heritage and great outdoors has never been stronger. In the busy, noisy world we now live in perhaps it’s never been more important to escape. A visit to a trust property can be a real tonic – you get to see real beauty, not virtual beauty’.
Ten most popular National Trust sites
- Giant’s Causeway, Antrim (665,681 visits)
- Cliveden House, Buckinghamshire (475,604 visits)
- Attingham Park, Shropshire (466,658 visits)
- Belton House, Lincolnshire (450,293 visits)
- Larrybane, North Antrim (432,984 visits)
- Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire (423,436 visits)
- Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire (414,035 visits)
- Stourhead, Wiltshire (395,341 visits)
- Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (371,593 visits)
- Mottisfont, Hampshire (367,476 visits)
Source: National Trust, year to April 2017
