National Trust - Annual Pass - Worth It or Not?

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After much deliberation, I decided to buy a National Trust annual pass for the family. We were visiting Bath earlier in the year and we have ideas for the summer holidays to travel around the UK and so I thought it would be a good idea to have the option of some plans for days out, culture, beauty and generally less thinking would be involved when we travel. 

For anyone outside the UK or does not know, the National Trust is an charitable organisation which looks after and manages over 500 properties, gardens and land of historical or cultural interest within the UK. For example it looks after The Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland, Cliveden House in Berkshire and is linked with English Heritage for Stonehenge. 

 The Giants Causeway


Cliveden House


Stonehenge 

These are all very important sites and without organisations like the National Trust, a lot of them would have been lost to time or disrepair.   

Each location has a place to park either on site or nearby which usually has a fee, and then an entry fee which all goes towards restoration, maintenance of the site or management of the trust. There is usually a cafe onsite of the properties with buildings (not in the locations of just countryside) and many places have toilets and disabled facilities including access paths where possible.   

A lot of properties put on special events and activities for children during the school holidays. Half term at Stonehenge had spear throwing, catapult throwing and information sessions about life in the Stone Age, including foods eaten and huts showing their way of life. Corfe Castle in Dorset had dragons and knights themed trails around the site including a gift of a coin at the end.   

The National Trust also has holiday cottages, hotels and campsites dotted around the country, making for a different type of donation to the trust while enjoying a holiday of your own. 

The family annual pass includes 2 adults who live at the same address and their children. The average cost of a day ticket at a property is around £13 per adult and a child over 5 years £6.50, making a family of three like ours £32.50 plus any car parking fees. The pass is an annual cost of £150, this means we need to visit 5 properties per year in order to make it worth buying.   

I would recommend taking a look at the website to see if there are any properties near you that are of interest or in an area where you will be travelling to before purchasing a pass. But for us, with school holidays, bank holiday weekends and a planned trip around the country we feel this is very good value for money and we will make as much use of it as possible.

Until next time x

 *This post is not sponsored. I have made my decisions and paid for my annual pass independently. I will inform readers within any post of any sponsors relating to a post. 

If you are interested in joining the National Trust as well, check out the best option for you here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/membership 

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