Boycott The National Trust! (1 Viewer)

cankita

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Just came back from touring Ireland and one of the places we wanted to visit was the Giant's Causeway which is 'owned' by the National Trust. For those who don't know you can walk to the Giant's Causeway free of charge IF you can find somewhere to park within walking distance. There used to be a reasonably priced car park but now the NT have built a totally unnecessary visitor centre at a cost of £8 million and if you want to park there you have to pay the full admission price of £9 per adult even if you don't want to go into the visitor centre! If you just want to buy a cup of coffee in their cafe you still have to pay the full admission price!

There is a parking alternative a few hundred yards down the road at The Bushmills Railway where you can park for the day for £6 and that is what we intended to do. We arrived just after 9am but found that the railway car park was closed so, rather reluctantly, we felt we had no choice but to be ripped off for 27 quids worth of parking. We drove into the huge car park which was totally empty save for one car and a motorhome. The duty jobsworth comes up and asks "Are you members?". "No" I reply to which he responds "Well we don't allow motorhomes to park here unless you are National Trust members". He went on to explain that if you have a motorhome and are not NT members then you have to drive 3 miles back to Bushmills and take the free courtesy bus to the visitor centre. You then get £2 off the admission price to somewhere you didn't want to visit in the first place!

WHAT??? What possible rationale is there for such a stupid policy? They have a huge car park there with single bays in which most motorhomes would fit easily, so what does being a NT member do? Does it suddenly shrink the size of your motorhome? Or somehow make it invisible?

I can't for the life of me understand the reasoning behind such a crass policy. If 50 NT members all turn up in motorhomes they can all park there for free but if one non-member wants to park a motorhome for a few hours in an otherwise empty car park - and pay £27 for the privilege - they can't!

We never got to see the Giant's Causeway (it was a crap day anyway so not a great loss) and the National Trust lost out on £27 so who wins there? If the National Trust think this kind of policy will encourage membership then they are sadly wrong. I doubt if I'll ever visit another National Trust property let alone join up.
 
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cankita

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Hardly! £99 for a couple plus £60 for our adult son - I suspect that you could visit every NT property in Northern Ireland at normal admission prices and still get change!
 
Aug 27, 2009
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I'm a member of the NT as millions of other satisfied members are. I've read through your version of events and I'm sorry but I cant see what your gripe is all about apart from having to pay to park. Being a member has many perks like free parking and entry at many spectacular places around the country. The NT has to continually raise funds, how would you go about doing this.:)

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Feb 24, 2013
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A useful heads up, but we are members anyway

Let me return your heads up, as you are based in Scotland join the NT Scotland, it is a separate section and cheaper to join but then allows full member rights in the UK

Anybody can join the Scottish option even if you live outside Scotland, another odd rationale(y)
 

Jaws

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Due to a few such issues we cancelled out membership two years ago and will not be renewing it.
I suspect they are loosing more members than gaining at the moment..
Lord knows who comes up with their money making schemes but who ever it is seems to be missing the point of the exercise !
 
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cankita

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I'm a member of the NT as millions of other satisfied members are. I've read through your version of events and I'm sorry but I cant see what your gripe is all about apart from having to pay to park. Being a member has many perks like free parking and entry at many spectacular places around the country. The NT has to continually raise funds, how would you go about doing this.:)

Firstly it's not a 'version of events' it's what happened. Secondly we would have paid the £27 (albeit grudgingly) but we were not allowed to. How would I go about raising funds? Well I wouldn't spend £8 million on a visitor centre to a part of the countryside that is freely accessible in the first place - just provide a car park at a reasonable cost and use the money raised for whatever is needed.

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Bailey58

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There was a thread on this a while back and I mentioned then that we're paying £90 odd as a couple with a 30% reduction after 5 years membership, we have another renewal to pay before we benefit from this and as we don't visit often enough it's debatable whether we will. Having said all that if you do visit frequently it is a cheap day out to many wonderful places, stately homes, countryside and coastal areas.
 
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Oh dear, I can see why you were a bit annoyed. Usually, if they own a car park at the property they just ask non members to pay a parking fee.
We have a family membership and I often plan our weekends away with a NT place in mind. Much, much cheaper than virtually any other day out I can think of for the 6 of us.
Another bonus is their reciprocal agreement with English Heritage - so you can visit their centres for free too.
Only time we came a cropper was when we went to the lovely new Glencoe site and realised that we'd left the wallet containing all our membership cards at home. Since the organisations are separate, they couldn't look us up on their computer, so we had to cough up, but that was obviously our fault.
Went to Oxburgh hall last Saturday (beautiful moated tudor manor house). Arrived by bike (6 year old managed almost 10 miles that day after only learning to ride for a week) without locks (Doh!). No problem - they gave us 2 brand new ones to borrow for free. In this instance, well done NT!
 

Forestboy

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Similar experience a couple of years ago cancelled membership and will never join again. Just pay day admission should I want to visit a NT site.
Horrible organisation bit like Caravan Club.

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scotjimland

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I had a moan here about having to pay to use the cafe' at Sutton Hoo

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum...ship-prices-and-a-visit-to-sutton-hoo.101102/

Today we went to Sutton Hoo, now run by the NT (it's about 4 miles from our home) for a look round the shop and have a coffee ... just to pass the time you understand, . not interested in the exhibition and guided tour which costs £19.50 family ticket.. been there done that.. and not worth the money.. the artifacts are replicas, the originals are in the British Museum

All went well, we had a look around the gift shop then strolled into the cafe but were stopped and told we had to pay the entrance fee to use the cafe .. I said we don't want the exhibition.. just a cuppa and a scone .. then you must pay to use the cafe unless you are an NT member, then it's free .. yeahh ok I said.. walking away..

What a load of nonsense.. pay to use a cafe.. ?? I don't think so.. and the last time I darken the steps of Sutton Hoo .. what a rip off
 

denisejoe

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Just received a flyer that gives 3 months free joint membership £74.25 for the first year the code is K15032 but that's by direct debit

Joe
 
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cankita

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Just received a flyer that gives 3 months free joint membership £74.25 for the first year the code is K15032 but that's by direct debit

Joe
Or do what DavidG58 suggested above and join the NT For Scotland for £72 for family membership (2 adults, 4 children) and £96 thereafter instead of the £104 wanted by the English NT. Always check out the 'offers' before parting with your money!

I was thinking of going for the Joint Senior Lifetime membership at the bargain price of only £1,280 but I need to work out if we are going to live that long. Maybe if they throw in a free wheelchair after the first ten years .....?

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dippingatoe

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A useful heads up, but we are members anyway

Let me return your heads up, as you are based in Scotland join the NT Scotland, it is a separate section and cheaper to join but then allows full member rights in the UK

Anybody can join the Scottish option even if you live outside Scotland, another odd rationale(y)

Does it still include free parking at anywhere other than the Scottish properties?

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Chris

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Hardly! £99 for a couple plus £60 for our adult son - I suspect that you could visit every NT property in Northern Ireland at normal admission prices and still get change!

I could be wrong with how much it costs. I saw £60 on a bank statement recently.

I think I only have single membership as I generally only use if for car parks in Pembrokeshire.
 

funflair

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And a free cup of coffee in the cafe if you arrive at Cragside Northumberland by bike.

Nice Cafe' in NT places usually.

@DavidG58 we have been told about the Scottish thing, the only drawback if you think it is is that the book only covers England.

Martin
 

john kyte

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I boycotted the National trust 60 yrs ago 1958 to be exact
WE--two chaps and two girls on motorbikes---I think we were the only tourists in the Lake District at the time,,,we well out of any village,and not far from Lake Coniston parked our bikes on wide grass verge ,,,pitched out tent,,lit small fire to make tea
At midnight a policeman came and told us to move,since we were committing 3 offences ,,,parking bike ,pitching tent and lighting fire on NT property Two weeks after we got home the local police called on all 4 of us at different addresses and told us not to do it again I think the road authority owns the grass verges
 

MikeD

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I could be wrong with how much it costs. I saw £60 on a bank statement recently.

I think I only have single membership as I generally only use if for car parks in Pembrokeshire.

Yes Chris. £60-00 for single membership (y)

But that would surely make the wife an "illegal" when you park in their carparks? ;):whistle::rolleyes:



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TheBig1

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We are joint members and it costs us nothing. Our daughter, who lives in the USA, always struggles to think of things to buy us for Christmas that she can put in a parcel. So for the last 2 of 3 years she has been paying our NT membership.

Yesterday took our 2 year old grandson for a lovely walk around the grounds of Ightham Mote, and then a spot of lunch in the cafe. So nice we will be going back there later to have a good look around the house. Looking at the price of admission and parking at the more popular places I reckon it only takes about 5 visits a year to pay back what it costs anyway.

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May 21, 2008
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It's quite simple - the National Trust was created to conserve buildings and sites of historical, architectural or landscape value, and it does an extraordinary job. It needs income to do this, so it charges for access, but people who pay for membership can go in free. If you don't want to pay, then don't go to its properties. If you want to see them then join - £60 a year, less far than a tankful of diesel in your van. Looking for options which are a little bit cheaper is pathetic.
 
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I don't think there is a reciprocal attangement with English heritage except for jointly owned things like Stonehenge. Can't find anything in my book or online. It would be nice to be proved wrong though.
 

Emmit

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Psssst!!!

If you don't want to join the Bermuda NT, (and I notice that their membership has a specific 'Start' date of 1st October, so not very good for this year.)
May I suggest, especially if one of the joint members is Over 60yrs, Joining the NT for Scotland.
@£49.80 for a Seniors card (for two) it's significantly cheaper than the English NT.

Oooops Sorry David, Missed your earlier post.

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