Should I renew my National Trust subscription?

Sf101 echoed my sentiments exactly. Go woke, go broke.

Try ringing them to negotiate a better price. I did a couple of years ago and got a good discount.

lolarabbit

You might be interested in the Art Fund pass. It's not a dissimilar amount of money from memory but we get a lot more value from it. Several of the National Trust properties near me are included along with some English Heritage places and a huge array of galleries and museums such as Chatham Dockyard, some free, some half price. I'd never heard of it before but am a real convert now.

I belong to the Art Fund which in has been renamed The National Art Fund. I gave up our National Trust membership,when we gave up driving but kept our Art Pass. We can go to lots of places that don’t need us to drive. Not necesssarily art galleries. There is Charles Dickens house in Doughty Street which we love and you can have a lunch in the basement and imagine what it all must have been like in those days. See his desk on which he wrote many of his books. The membership issues with a book full of places you can visit. Also it allows you free membership to Kensington Palace , plus half price entry to other exhibitions at the National Galleries and so many others.

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This thread has given me a nudge to go and see some more NT properties. Earlier today a visit to this beautiful Elizabethan house at Montecute, Somerset, scones and tea in the cafe afterwards.

I stopped renewing when they went totally woke. Give us the history sure but don't push your politics on us if you want our money.

We've been members on and off over the years, when our children were young my parents used to pay for it for us as a Christmas present.

We rejoined a few years ago as our daughter and her family live very close to a lovely property which puts on a lot of family activities, so we go there quite often.

I hadn't realised we could use our cards in other countries, so thank you to everyone who's posted about that!

We've been members for years & have a lot of NT properties close to us. We visit the nearest one often with our son and his family - great for country walks at any time of the year and an excellent play area for the DGSs. We have day trips to visit properties further afield and try and make sure we take opportunities when away on holiday. We were at a wedding recently and managed to detour slightly on the way home to see Cliveden- magnificent and worth the sub for sure. We also belong to RHS which for us is also good value for money.

My OH volunteered for them pre Covid. They stopped giving a sandwich and a drink and only offered a biscuit and a drink to a full day volunteer like him. Then he saw them throwing into a skip a lot of furniture that if it were to be offered the general public would have snapped up and it would have added to the NT coffers. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Sewingpruso

We need all the protection possible for our countryside and houses...the NT is one of the few ways we can enjoy it..

Not if you live near me. Although they are maintaining the house they have recently closed a bridge with immediate effect that crosses a river in the woodland.They have also fenced off another bridge and removed stones from a set of steps and fenced them off. It has effectively closed off walks in the woodland and closed out locals. This is not protecting the countryside. NT blame the cost for closing the bridge but surely maintaining these areas is what our fees are paid for not to pay the CEO £200,000 pa.

We are planning on joining 'Historic Houses', which has lots of private properties around the country. Lots around us in N Yorkshire & Co Durham. It's £128.00 for two but for us it's better value than NT.

We've been members since Noah was a lad, but considered dropping it due to wokeness (seem to remember that volunteers were going to be dropped if they wouldn't wear a gay pride lanyard). However, decided to keep it so we could vote if necessary. Also members of Historic Houses and Art Fund.

I wouldn't consider NOT renewing, the conservation work they do is well considered and well researched. I breathe a sigh of relief when I hear of another purchase of wildflower meadow. I have every confidence in how they work with local farmers and the way in which they are preserving so much for the future and not just living in the past.
I have visited all our local NT properties and visit new properties whenever the opportunity arises.
At our most local NT property, an adjacent closed campsite has been purchased, the entrance has been remodelled and completely relandscaped for the less able and the cafe has been reinvented to a high standard. Exactly what a forward thinking organisation should be doing.

A worthy case and happy to renew year after year.
Nobody has ever been 'woke' (mind you I feel the same as Cathy Burke on this one) nor snooty or patronising either. A privilege to be a member for over 50 years.

my conscience and I are having a tussle. DH was ill last years so never used it once. not been this year yet either. and the v snotty volunteer who was impatient when I couldn't find my card almost made me cancel instantly. Im carrying on for now as its my charitable contribution but I'm very irritated with NT not valuing their subscribers.

I wouldn’t - i find the staff really rather snooty and patronising

It seems like people are wanting to find justification/support for their decision not to renew their NT membership. This puzzles me - if membership isn’t working for you anymore then stop being a member. why is this hard?

We still get good value from ours. The cafes are definitely not what they were, but our nearest is defo not plant based - bought GS a ham sandwich last Monday.
We got our AGM info by post last year, and I’ve turned up several times without my card and they always find me on the system.
I know there is a lot of noise about it being ‘too woke’ - the Telegraph have an ongoing thing, but I can’t say that it has made any difference to me as a visitor.
We are happy to support NT who still play an important role in preserving buildings and contents, training people in heritage skills etc.
But if we get to the stage when it’s not vfm and budgets are tighter we will not renew.

We pondered over renewing but decided to as Studland, Dorset have 3 carparks to use. Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy are the nearest places to visit. So, we didn't renew our Historic Houses. Actually, it takes away the pressure to feel we should be visiting places.

If you are not getting your moneysworth why bother?

Our annual membership is up for renewal this month. As I have become a carer for my OH (Alzheimers) in the past year, we decided to retain his membership, and I get in free with my Carers card. I have also applied for a companion card from the NT, so he could take another person in too We are fortunate in being surrounded by so many properties in Kent/Sussex, so we get good use out of the membership. What I have saved will probably be spent in the cafes and shops!

I have friends and this year they are going on their walking holiday taking in routes as often as possible where NT properties are located in order to use the car parks. Cheap all day parking.

I too had a really big think about whether to renew this year. We didn’t seem to use it much last year. In the end I decided to go ahead and renew, mostly because the single entrance fees are so expensive now and because I love to visit our local one (Mottisfont). And I made a resolution to use it more - we’ll see how that goes!

I did actually join English Heritage once but the transaction didn’t go through. Which is lucky because I haven’t been to one of their properties since. They do a few reciprocals with the NT; I think Lindisfarne is one of them.

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Your U.K. NT card also allows you entry to properties managed by the Barbados National Trust on the island.
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My husband bought me a Lifetime Subscription about a decade ago. It actually really annoyed me as we didn't visit enough to warrant the expense of it, but he thought it was a worthy cause.

Move on just a few years and we stopped going as we were enraged at just how political it had become and how it had treated the few volunteers we knew.

So, unfortunately, they have our dosh but not our loyalty and further custom.
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Your money,your choice but sounds if you don't want to or you would'nt be asking