I joined the Scottish national trust because I am over sixty and I can’t get a discount with the English trust because you have to be a member already which I’ not. With the Scottish trust you get a good discount when joining even if you’re not a member, so what do you expect me to do. To be fair both trusts should be the same also if I am cheating the trust out of money why did they exept my “English address details”to join!

It's even cheaper if you join the new Zealand national trust and can still be used over here. what i will say is if you buy those the money is spent on places in those areas not england. So sort of doing our national trust out of money.

difference between NT and NTS family membership is 25 pounds.
I reckon there will be no shortage of smart, experienced, honest people ready to hold and be effective (unless effectiveness is measured by amount one pays into their pocket) in NT D-G post for half of that amount (some might even do that for less. but lets say its 100K)
84K saved, divided by 25 pounds would give an opportunity for 3360 Joe's to get a discount and avoid the need to buy fully legal and honest NTS membership and more importantly avoid being obused by 'Newbold's ...

P.S. also, this attitude 'us in E&W vs them in S' is exactly what is driving SNP members. FFS, it is still the same country, isnt it ? Properties in S also constitute GB heritage and need to be preserved. How many people shout 'thiefs & cheats' when somebody points that local Bristol Tesco has discount, while London one does not ?

for reference: The Prime Minister is paid £150,402 a year. This includes the basic salary for a member of parliament which is currently £74,962. Is our Government less 'charitable' than NT ?

and where would all the charities that you supported be if they were equally deprived of money by hotukdeals?
The National Trust is more than just some charity that props up class heritage and I think your assesment is slightly unfair. That said they could offer cheaper membership rates for those on benefits etc. Perhaps you should contact them and suggest it.
Cheers

oh...that's just silly. Personally I do a lot for voluntary groups & have devoted years of my life to specific charities. Costs of NT membership are too high for me on my wage and particularly as I won't get out to enough properties to justify the full rate. I'll be taking advantage of one of the lower offers as a result.
(PS... the charities I do support are all ones which support the very vulnerable... not propping up a class heritage)

The NT is a charity which benefits only itself. My nearest NT park is Lyme Park where it is now £8.00 to park your car, before you buy a £1.50 can of pop and a £4.00 sandwich. I believe the intentions were originally honourable, saving many historic properties from dereliction, but lets face it, these days its a business the same as any other corporate (except not paying its fair share of tax), run by greedy accountants pricing these parks out of the grasp of many young families. If you can save yourself a few pounds by buying membership for the same price as theyre happy to sell for across the border then go for it!

If you understand the full facts of the Wakehurst situation, you'll also be aware of the terms of the lease which RBG took from NT. Both are charitable organisations, and both are bound by the Charities Acts. Both fully understood the terms of the lease. NT cannot legally cross-subsidise RBG and if RBG feel they need to charge for car parking that's entirely their decision. As a NT member I have to accept that if I visit Wakehurst I now have to pay a parking charge to RBG - such is life.

And as for the reference to freeloading lowlife cheats, I think that's a pretty fair description of people who use a legal loophole to cheat a charity. And I think the man on the Clapham omnibus would agree. You will not, of course, and I think we will have to agree to disagree. :smile:

I feel i'm well informed about the Wakehurst situation, having followed developments there over the last 30 years, all as a member until a couple of years ago, so no need to do any further research and google as you have just probably done to come up with your post. If you researched further, you'd realise that Wakehurst does impact the Kew carpark charges because Kew had costs due to NT visitors which NT were unwilling to pay voluntarily, so Kew had no option but to raise funds by car parking being its only option. My view is if NT had paid a reasonable sum per visitor to Kew to compensate for their costs, then the very high car parking charges would have not been necessary. That's why i resigned my NT membership, due to the increasingly hard profit maximising and non-charitable decisions NT make these days.
So yes, I'm disappointed in NT, and it seems from this thread that others are too. The fact that current NT supporters such as yourself have no qualms about calling those with an alternative view to their own 'lowlife, cheats' and other abusive terms perhaps show who NT appeal to these days.

You really do have some kind of down on the National Trust, don't you? Do a little research, though, and take up your complaint about parking at Wakehurst with the people who hold the lease, run and manage the place - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The parking charge is set by RBG and has nothing to do with the National Trust - though Trust membership will still get you free entrance.


Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous centre for botanical and mycological knowledge. With our two inspiring gardens at Kew in west London and Wakehurst in Sussex, we enchant our visitors with the wonder of plant diversity.

kew.org/Wak…rst

Newbold, your dismissive and abusive attitude seems to reflect the arrogant and patronising attitude of today's ent quite well. You don't happen to be its £180k leader do you?
When you visit Wakehurst - ent's most visited site - I'm sure you'll be ecstatic to pay the £10 parking fee ent members have to pay, even after paying the expensive annual ent membership fee. Remember that when ent lawyers evict yet another tenant from one of their properties so you can rent it as a holiday let, it's your money which pays for it. Very charitable.

They do, just ask for another one at any property

Many forward thinking fee-charging organisations in the UK (e.g. rail companies, cinemas, Alton Towers, insurance companies, mobile phone companies, etc) have come up with ways of providing those whose cannot or will not pay full price with means of securing discounts on the full price of a service (e.g. Cereal packet vouchers, railcards, Meerkat codes, early booking deals, "retention" deals, etc). NT used to do this until about a year ago with their "3 months free for direct debit payment" offers. Unfortunately, they have now strangled this avenue of hope for less well-off prospective members and now offer only a paltry £15 M&S voucher, instead, if you're lucky enough to find it . Until they reinstate a more sympathetic joining offer, I'm afraid I'll be continuing to support NTS instead - and, as a consequence, I'll continue to enjoy - without any shame - the entirely legal, moral and rightful "additional benefits" that my NTS membership just happens to provide South of Hadrian's Wall.

No different to some of the other large well known charities, which is why I reserve my donations for ones that work at ground level, where you know they will make a real difference and not support fat cats.

I doubt very much whether the RNLI, Air Ambulance etc have resorted to some of the dubious methods to raise funds I mentioned with regards to The Giant's Causeway, and which you haven't commented on. I'm not making it up. It's on the BBC News site and other places. Read what other people have said and has been happening.

Simple: they don't, and I'm not. I just prefer to support a charity that's responsible for maintaining the county's heritage (and needs membership income to do it) instead of a bunch of freeloading lowlife cheats determined to cheat it out of that income, but still want all the benefits that members pay their membership fees for.

It's no different from cheating a hospice, air ambulance or the RNLI out of money just because you've found a legal loophole enabling you to do it - try to justify it as much as you like, it's still a lowlife tactic.

If you think this charity is bad avoid completely if you don't think it offers value don't pay for it, if you can't afford it don't. If you do want to visit the properties pay the price it asks don't expect honest folk to subsidise dishonest ones.

There are loads of things that we buy that are rip offs, sky TV, mobile phones, insurance, rail tickets to name but a few if you want or need them you pay the price. In my opinion if you knowingly buy access to NTproperties this way you are morally if not legally partaking in fraud and you should not be proud of yourself.

Is there a way to get a membership for me +1 (can be any guest)

Yet you don't have any qualms about the NT rinsing tourists for every penny and being dishonest. How very risible of you. Why are you such a cheerleader for them? Are you related to the CEO...or have some sort of vested interest?

​What utter garbage. Shirt off your back? For God's sake. It's a charity not a bank. And as a charity it can only spend in a highly restricted number of ways. It's spent preserving our heritage and finding ways to cheat the NT is just cheating those admirable aims. How very clever of you.

It's the distinction between value and affordability. Even if I was a multi-millionaire, I'd still think that the NT was taking the Michael. Interesting the chap who bought up the Giant's Causeway earlier. Apparently the pricing there caused all sorts of complaints a few years ago, was reported by the national press and even the local MP was involved. Doesn't seem to have changed anything. It also highlighted how NT staff would corral confused tourists to go through their visitor centre, paying £9 a pop to enter a small building that just had some basic information and a café, without telling them that they could just visit the Causeway for free which was round the side of the building.

Contrary to what people are saying about 'stealing' etc - the NT is not some noble entity and they would quite happily take the shirt off your back. Do not feel guilty about taking up the Scottish membership.

A bit of extreme example. I 'd compare it more to paying a student or oap ticket to visit the cinema, still not entirely honest however a payment is being made/received as opposed to an empty seat being left which brings no revenue. I hate the way a two-tier system has been created and only those with a lot of money can afford it. Plus if NT were that set against it why allow it? They must know of the loop-hole and I'm sure they are aware this goes on. I'm not a member of NT as we don't go enough, we do visit the Squirrel site in Formby and pay the parking there and buy some nuts so that helps their revenue that way but we wouldn't pay the full membership cost.

What if you can afford it but would rather pay less?

I've been a member of UK NT but barely used it, so now I get the cheaper option, they've plenty invested that they can draw down if they miss my membership

Only a conversation with a member of a team looking into the way reciprocal agreements are working, I'm afraid.

Got anything to back up your statement? I've just used my Nz membership and got a smile and hello, if it was soon it'd have been informed to us by Nz heritage

Well put! :smile:

I'm I can't afford a decent laptop for my daughter that does not make it right to steal one. There are lots of things that have benefits that many can not afford if you can't afford it you don't get it simple

I went on eBay and bought an old persons dress up costume...then applied for the Scottish seniors membership..saved a fortune...do get the odd comment that I look good for my age oO

That kind of **** is annoying 180k for what!!! because your the head of a charity you can have 10 x the average wage..ffs

It should be free to view our countries heritage

So when you go to Scotland or if you live on the border do you buy both?




They already ask for your address to send you your membership cards, reality is they don't need to worry about where people live as long as they become members all of the association are glad for the money. Each place gets money every time you visit from the central membership pot.

I am not going to take advantage of this money-saving loophole and insisting on proof of address is the obvious way for the NT to prevent this but saying it is the equivalent of tax avoidance is a poor metaphor as it is certainly not illegal and people still have to pay for membership wherever they buy it. Even if you don't like it, a better metaphor would be tax efficiency which of course is not the same thing.

Free for NT Members - not Scottish. Just one of the benefits of belonging to the National Trust.

Really? If that's true, then it's pretty outrageous. I'd like to see one of the NT apologists on here try and defend that. What are the admission fees on top of that?

In 2015 the Director-General, Dame Helen Ghosh, earned a base salary of £183,960
THAT IS ONE SCARY SALARY...but it's just the BASIC...there are bonuses too! Who says that Bankers are the worst lot???

Yes you do.

So by joining the Scottish NT you contribute NOTHING to the upkeep and maintenance of the properties in England and Wales....Yes, it may be slightly more but England and Wales have over 500 places to visit.... Scotland has A LOT LESS...Most NT places are rolling out chargeable parking unless you have your parking sticker with your membership card, so the Scottish membership will not cover this and you may end up paying more through the year....Moreover it is a charity at its core.....joining the NT in Scotland is a bit like paying your council tax for another county and then wondering why your neighbourhood is going downhill!!!!

What does English ID look like? There is a UK one for non-British passport holders gov.uk/app…iew but it is for the UK not England or Scotland...

This year you can obtain one through Mynatationaltrust an online portal to manage your settings and membership.....

No bill needed - just an ID from the issuing country. Quite simple. And it will happen. Quite soon.

So people genuinely on holiday are expected to bring a bill with them! Never going to happen

I don't generally use my National Trust membership (visited one property in 5 years), but subscribe as I appreciate the work that they are doing. Really ought to start using it at some point!

NT Giants causeway Northern Ireland now charging £10.50 per person to park, one car 4 people £42.00 what a rip off..

AMEN! oO (_;)

Says it is for residents of the countries respectively.

This might make it affordable for some who wouldn't otherwise be able - so at least the NT get something - english or not !

The handbook will be for Scotland only, but you can pick up a copy of the latest NT one on ebay for pennies.....

Thanks for this information, was considering joining this year and saving money is always good! If I join Scotland will the handbook be only for Scottish properties or will it also have UK in it as well? Just a thought as I want to visit both.

National Trust caused these work arounds by doubling the price of membership over the last ten years while most people havent had a pay rise. So I feel no sympathy for the greedy NT

The advantage of having a NZ pass is they can't assume you're gift aiding. "Not a British Tax payer mate". Job done.

Hi Mark, this is clearly wrong (not you but Montacute House) Most charities use gift aid and it enables them to claim an extra 25% for you 'donation'. The person paying / donating does not have to pay an extra penny. As you are paying an entrance fee to a charity you are entitled to claim 25% back in your annual tax return due to the charitable donation. Gift aid just means the charity in question can do this instead of you. You would've needed to fill out a form allowing this to happen. See here https://www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/gift-aid
It clearly says:
Donating through Gift Aid means charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give. It won’t cost you any extra.
Shame on them for trying to shame you :disappointed:

I'm sure if NT wanted to stop English residents buying Scottish or NZ or Bahamian membership and visiting English properties they could have worked out how to very simply stop it, just as you have. The fact is the NT has been happy to allow English residents to visit English properties when they hold membership of foreign reciprocal body for many years. If they wanted it stopped, they could have stopped it years ago. Maybe they're happy to sell visitors coffee and cake, car parking and other ancillary stuff. Your faux outrage isn't reflected in the NT, and the only abuse is from you accusing others of acting on the level of tax cheats.

Perhaps you objecting to actions the NT doesn't appear to mind at all, you should ask yourself why the NT is (much) more expensive than equivalent organisations. Don't they also have the high costs of maintenance of properties etc.

And again, if you object to people using facilities cheaper than others pay, then i take it you haven't taken your free bus pass, claimed your fuel allowance, claimed a two for one pizza or paid a concessionary fare at the cinema etc etc. In fact, what attracts you to hukd? (And please no 'but this is a charity'. The NT doesn't act like a charity, as most think of one, in any respect. The exact opposite infact, extremely business minded with the best legal advice to protect their interests and squeeze the last penny from their thousands of rental properties for example.)

How ever will I sleep tonight?

HNZ will be delighted to have you. They get all the money without any of the associated costs. ENT, by comparison, get nothing. The way round it, of course, is for overseas members to have to show proof of residence to get the concession, and NT is working towards that, thanks to the abuse you're promoting. :wink:

Ah all these moral arguments. For 99% of people their employer screws them over with crap wages. It's a dog eat dog world. You've got to be prepared to not be the one getting bitten all the time. That's why we're all on a deals site.

Not in the slightest. If Heritage New Zealand didn't want me to become a member they would prevent anyone not a New Zealand citizen/resident from joining. If the National Trust or any of the other similar organisations didn't want to be part of the reciprocal arrangement, they would put an end to it.

Rather like the argument that it was perfectly normal, fine and dandy for Boots UK to have decided to base itself for tax purposes at an address in Zug, Switzerland.

Legal, sure - but moral, certainly not. I suppose it depends on your view of morality whether it's OK to cheat the English National Trust out of much needed income by manipulating the reciprocity arrangements agreed between similar bodies. Particularly as that sort of abuse will lead to genuine NZ resident members losing the privilege.

Don't suppose that would bother you a jot, though, would it.

Thanks for the explanation. If you would please be kind enough to show me where it says that Heritage New Zealand membership is only for citizens of New Zealand that would be grand.

The NT only charging half as much for under 25yrs makes me question why I should pay twice as much.

Yep, that was partly why we didn't renew our NZ membership when it had expired - its wasn't worth the hassle each time having to explain that we weren't actually on holiday, or just visiting the country. Though it was handy that it covered both National Trust and English Heritage properties/sites.

The other reason was as stated previously, that the National Trust (England) now allow payments/renewals by monthly direct debit, which makes paying a lot easier to manage.

Its a pity the NT & EH couldn't come to some agreement where they did a joint membership, or discount if you were already a member of the other organisation, rather than a total of almost £200 for both. I think that is another factor in people wanting to use the NZ loophole.

If you're not from NZ, and you join NZ NT and use it to access English NT sites, then you are taking advantage of a loop-hole in the applications process for NZ NT (in that they don't require residency to join) to abuse the mutuality of access agreement between the two. Nb. English NT has no influence over NZ NT registration requirements. To do that knowing you're intending to effectively act as an English NT member would (i.e. habitually and primarily visiting English NT sites) is disingenuous, and is effectively taking money from a charity whilst enjoying the facilities they provide (whilst knowing that they have a charging structure in place that is being avoided). We've already seen in this thread fake NZ members feeling embarrassment and effectively hiding from their children what they have done- there is a reason those feelings exist, and that is because the morals of that person are tweaking away telling them that what I say is true. If any other fake NZ members don't share that compunction, that says more about their moral compass than it does about anything else.

Legally it's fine. But then so is large corporations using overseas subsidiaries to avoid tax liabilities in the UK. Legally fine, morally not so much.

If someone is a NZ resident using NZ membership to access English NT sites whilst they are here temporarily, that is a different thing. That is activity that is within the spirit of the agreement of mutuality of access.

If you're English resident and using English sites, then pay your fair share and stop using the rest of the membership base to subsidise your days out. English NT may be a charity, it's members are not.

There you are:

nationaltrustannualreport.org.uk/wp-…pdf

No problem whatever with the Scottish members - that's what the reciprocal arrangements are designed for. What this is all about, though, as you well know, is people living in England buying Scottish memberships to use primarily in England - cheating the English NT out of crucial funds.

What this could actually lead to is the English NT pulling out of the reciprocal scheme because of the abuse - which will hurt the genuine Scottish members.

Might look into this as I probably have much better access to the Scottish NT places as most of the English ones are down South...

Exactly the reason why I buy the English NT. If I bought the Scottish one or any other one more cheaply and the English properties got a smaller cut, then I'd be fine with it, but the fact that it means not supporting our properties and in turn means English properties become more rubbish over time with poorer maintenance, then I stick to English NT.

Others will argue they are on the breadline and it is the difference between going and not going or that you buy the cheaper membership and throw in a higher tip, but the properties suffer in the long run.

Go on then - you know it all, apparently. How much does it cost to maintain properties and grounds? I want to see verified facts and figures, so that we know the most of their cash is being used in this way and not lining pockets. After all, they are a charity.

But the members in scotland are genuine members. There is no abuse, only in your mind.

You might as well say buses are expensive to maintain, so anyone with a free bus pass is the same as a tax cheat by abusing the system (do you have a free bus pass?). Or the disabled parking for free are abusing the parking system. Anyway, tell the next Scottish person you see entering an English trust property that he is no better than a tax cheat and see his reply. You are abusing people here from your own invented idea of what a 'proper' member of the relevant trust is, a distinction none of the trusts make. I often find that those who stand on the sanctimonious high ground in such discussions are often in real life the morally lacking.

The reciprocal arrangements are intended for genuine members of other similar bodies, actually living in those countries. They're not intended to be abused by people living in England using other countries just because they're cheaper to join.

NT are planning to bring in proof of address to back up non-English memberships to stop the abuse, and the sooner that happens the better - it's very much the equivalent of tax avoidance, and cheating a charity's about as low as you can get. It might suit your morals, but that doesn't make it right.

You've obviously no idea how much it costs to maintain properties and grounds, and it has to be paid for. What do you think they do with the money - gamble it away? Cheapskates never like paying for anything - that's life. Try a few comparisons and you'll find NT is much in line with similar privately owned properties. No compulsion of course - if the prices are too high for you, just don't go.

You can obtain a 2nd parking sticker from any property, just ask.

Joined, thanks O.P, now to look for somewhere to visit in the west mids

Where did I say that the NT shouldn't charge anything for use of it's facilities? Of course they should - it the level of that charge that is the problem. Our day out in Lyme Park cost over £60 for what was essentially admission to the grounds, car parking and a snack at the café. It's not Chessington or Legoland, it's an open space which you walk around. Please don't tell me that you are so naïve as to argue that is good value. I would imagine only a fraction of that money goes towards the good work NT does in maintaining these sites. So, yes, that is my definition of cynically ripping off the public. Don't take my word for it, go on Trip Advisor et al. I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Thanks OP, maybe some people have known about NT work arounds for some time but its new to me so thanks for sharing. People join this site every day so don;t criticise people for posting stuff that is new to them just because you have been here for years.

NT has been abusing the name of charity for a long time, same as most of the exam boards. NT has loads of money even the story teller asking you to buy raffle tickets said so. It's like paying Camilla PB as Chancellor of a university .. The rich helping themselves.

Errr, where is the cheating? Nt and Scottish NT have reciporical arrangements to allow entry to their properties. There is no cheating, and it is reprehensible to accuse anyone of that. Any member of any of them has the priviledge of visiting the other. If you object to those arrangements, campaign with the NT for them to be stopped, instead of accusing innocent people as being on the same level as tax cheats.

Just because the NT charges for its car parks, admissions and food doesn't mean it's 'cynically ripping off the public' - where's the evidence for that sweeping generalisation? The D-G Helen Ghosh gets paid £183,960 pa - hardly a massive salary for the size of the organisation - and the volunteers give their time quite happily. Nobody forces them to do it.

If cheating a charity out of income it needs to preserve heritage assets is your bag, so be it - nothing said here is going to change that. But don't try to justify it with bogus arguments akin to a tax evader arguing that he doesn't like the way the NHS is run.

​I wish they would give 2 car stickers with our joint membership.

And they're under starter's orders in the Moral High Horse stakes

Oh please. What an inappropriate (and incorrect) analogy.

As some people have posted already, the NT are more than happy to cynically rip off the public whilst giving it the big 'we're a hard-up charideeee that relies on your money' schtick, exploiting their volunteers whilst the CEO takes home her massive salary.

I don't see how you can say the parking is abused by the public. The parking is only of use to Wakehurst visitors, who will be almost wholly NT members. So your view is NT members visiting an NT property are abusing the parking if they park in the car park?

I understand the relationship between Kew and the NT is probably a little complex, but my view is it is NT who are being obstreperous and very mean (typical these days) by not arranging a fair and suitable payment to Kew for each visitor instead of forcing Kew to make ridiculous car parking charges. After 29 years of NT membership, i decided to join the scottish nt as a form of protest against NT's growing terrible money-grabbing behaviour, especially at my local Wakehurst.

Hope you all feel good about yourself ripping off a charity.

What's next stealing guide dogs from the blind?

Put morals before money and you might sleep at night.

​on a side note explain to them well I don't earn enough to pay gift aid so I don't want get I trouble with the tax man trying chase me up.

I've studied and volunteered at Wakehurst place. The central reason why they started charging for parking on National Trust members is because it's abused by the public and they might get 100 NT entries and see practically no revenue. As a Kew garden member I get free parking there ...

Grow up.

As a Heritage New Zealand member, please explain to me the loopholes and methods of deception I used when I joined.

Quote from Winchman:
"I would agree but remember the CEO is happy to take a £180k salary(from her £140k civil service pay with gold plated pension) whilst employing many, many volunteers who have to pay their own fuel to get to work.
http://www.nationaltrustannualreport.org.uk/investing-in-people/
They talk about rewarding staff, yet they seek out volunteers so they don't have to pay a wage...
If you have saved a few quid on cheaper membership, slip a tip in the jar on the way out for the room guides and other volunteers."

Spot on. Whilst I don't support people cheating the NT out of entrance fees, through inappropriate use of concession cards; I DO think that the NT has lost the plot regarding what they are doing, and for whom. I abhor the huge salaries paid to the Snake Oil execs who now run the organisation. They are focussing on all the wrong things: attracting volume rather than quality, channeling people into eating cake and fairground attraction viewing, rather than concentrating on culture. Worst of all, they definitely, definitely DO exploit the goodwill of staff, both paid and unpaid, to destruction! The organisation is a travesty of what it once was.

National Trust have very dodgy sales systems. Went to a property in Somerset (Montacute House) last year and they wanted to charge us the full £12.60 each which includes gift aid. When we queried it, they said very loudly 'Oh, you don't want to pay the gift aid as well then?' 'It all goes towards upkeep of the house!' Hello! That's what I thought the normal admission price was for! There were no notices of prices at all and luckily we had looked online and saw that the 'normal' price was £11.40 so we told them that. It was embarrassing to be 'shamed' in front of other customers just because we wanted to pay the supposedly 'normal' price. I assume the staff have been instructed to do this, but it is awful and made us feel mean, seems very sharp practice to me.

Pay towards the ENT. Scottish have had enough already at our expense.

The site nearest to us has a good sized lake to walk round but no "properties" to look at, and you have to pay to enter the walled garden and a mortgage to buy drinks!! I begrudged paying £6 parking for that each time so bought a single annual pass (to get free parking). Now they've changed it to £6 per guest!!! I'm certainly not paying £18 for a 2hr walk around a sodding stagnant lake heritage or no heritage!!

There's that point of view, and the other which is the that the NT will rip-off non-members through parking charges, café and extra admissions fees to different parts of the grounds. Went to Lyme Park near Stockport recently and some of the charges were shocking - car park for £7, small bowl of soup for £6 etc. Don't tell me this is all for the 'upkeep of the site' -someone is trousering a lot of money out of this Heritage site business. I'd have no qualms exploiting this, how shall we describe it, loophole.

The Tory and Little Englander party?

The parking is the main drawback, although i'm not sure if the car parks are monitored or not. We had the Scottish membership for a year, parked at all the places we visited, and had no comeback at all. When showing the Scottish tickets we've never had any remarks at all.

Remember the NT charges massive amounts for parking, even for NT members, at a couple of places, including our local Wakehurst. (I know it's Kew really, but the effect is the same). £10 for a visit if you need more than an hour, which of course everyone does.

Don't feel at all guilty 'depriving' NT of income. Although they are a charity, that is just a business construct. They aren't a charity in the sense of most understand it, i.e. helping the needy. They have the slickest lawyers very adept at evicting their tenants when they feel like it. At the other end of the scale you wouldn't get to live your final years in considerable luxury at a beautiful NT property with subsidised rent unless you were somewhat upper middle class.

are you bored ? isn't your comment nothing to do with this thread and also round objects ? btw... 'don't bother asking as you'll get no reply' sex pistols.

I would agree but remember the CEO is happy to take a £180k salary(having moved from her £140k civil service pay with gold plated pension) whilst employing many, many volunteers who have to pay their own fuel to get to work.
http://www.nationaltrustannualreport.org.uk/investing-in-people/
They talk about rewarding staff, yet they seek out volunteers so they don't have to pay a wage...
If you have saved a few quid on cheaper membership, slip a tip in the jar on the way out for the room guides and other volunteers.

Cheers for that, I'll update the post. Not sure why I thought 55.

Please be aware that whilst cheap, these Scottish memberships don't contribute a penny to the upkeep of the NT of England and Wales properties. Each time a valid NT memership is scanned at a property they receive a percentage of the admission fee back from the head office, which goes towards maintaining the building, paying staff and covering volunteering costs. Whereas they receive exactly 0% from anyone scanning these Scottish passes.

The upkeep of the houses is phenomenal, and whilst you save a few quid buying these cheaper passes, the house is loosing valuable revenue from scanning valid BRritish NT members. Please help support their valuable work in maintaining our heritage and don't buy these.

Less of your money is going towards keeping these nice places open to visit if you do this so I would go with the English version if you can afford it! But of course, if you're strapped for cash give it a shot.

Our NT (England) membership has just renewed, and its better now they allow you pay monthly DD.

Think our family renewal works out about £9/month... much more pallatable than a one off £100 or so.

We did try the NZ membership one year, and didn't have an issue using it at both NT and English Heritage properties, but we also had a few 'awkward' conversations where we were asked how our holiday was going.... "Erm, fine, but I only travelled here from Newcastle!" Hehe

we got grilled at our local NT property last week. She asked if we were enjoying our holiday - I explained we weren't on holiday and live locally. She looked at me in disgust! I then had to make up a story that we were holidaying in Scotland earlier in the year and took out the membership whilst there. I could feel my nose growing as the kids were looking at me in disgust for blatantly lying to the lady - eek!

True but the other way of thinking about it is that more people will visit their sites and possibly spend more in their small onsite stores. For some it isn't about saving money but what is affordable, there is a big difference in the family membership cost and surely it is better for kids to be out in the outdoors learning rather than stuck in front of the tv during school holidays? Not all HUKD members are money grabbers ;).

Worth bearing in mind that the National Trust is a charity. Not sure if people would post deals about how to cheat other charities out of money!

Yes go on; we'll pay for the upkeep of the properties whilst you guys (especially NZ "members") use deception and a loop-hole to enjoy at our expense.

If The Natsi party have their way this wont be available much longer.

Hopefully people see through their nonsense....... again.

hiya - any more info on the "55" aspect, as it seems to clearly state "60" as the threshold on the website?

cheers

from the nts site

We got the family New Zealand one - never had any issues with it - apart from feeling crap when being grilled on where we live in New Zealand and if we're having a good holiday. At this point, the Mrs & kids turn completely mute as I do my Chips O'Toole impression...G'day mate!

Our local NT property has recently introduced ticket machines whereas it used to be free parking (since you had to pay to enter the property). I suspect many properties where it used to be free to park will be like this so you'll always end up paying if you don't have the NT membership.

National Trust England are also changing car parking shortly. This will require the sticker in the window and also use of the membership card to get a parking ticket.

others will come on saying its cheaper at the New Zealand one or other but if you like to keep the money in the UK this is the best one, its much cheaper and the option to do direct debit is excellent, though thing the National Trust have also started this.

Good spot OP. Do bear in mind that these cheaper options don't always cover parking costs at NT properties like the more expensive memberships do. I looked into this a while back when we applied for the senior membership discount, which is when I discovered various cheaper options from as far afield as New Zealand and Guernsey, but in the small print it does point out that these cheaper deals do mean additional costs at the properties sometimes.

posted loads of times

You won't get free parking at the many National Trust sites that have a chargeable car park.
There are lots of coastal and countryside sites where there are car park charges.

It has been posted on here before that it is even cheaper by joining New Zealand or Bermuda's equivalent to the National Trust - they also get you access to the England sites