Melford Hall has a dedicated team of volunteers.

They assist with room stewarding in the house, and undertake work in the garden.

Volunteers are the backbone of the National Trust. Only through their help are we able to open Melford Hall to visitors, and bring its showrooms to life with stories of one of the East of England's finest Elizabethan houses from the past 500 years.

Our garden volunteers help convey the importance of the garden and its plant collection as well as pointing out features of special interest. They also assist with a number of garden maintenance tasks throughout the year.

Volunteers at Melford Hall also perform the vital roles of providing world class customer care and keeping a watchful eye on visitor safety and enjoyment.

How you can get involved

If you are looking for an exciting and interesting way to make a difference by helping Europe’s largest and most successful conservation movement, we would love to hear from you.

Additional volunteers are needed to support the development of new visitor facilities and infrastructure improvements planned for Melford Hall over the next few years.

Current opportunities

As well as seeking Room Stewards and garden volunteers, we also have the following opportunities for volunteers at Melford Hall:

• Tea-room Assistants: Help is required serving light refreshments to our visitors in the tea-room.

• Gift and Second-hand Bookshop Assistant: Are you a bookworm or enjoy browsing in National Trust Shops? At Melford you can get involved with our Gatehouse shop that has a selection of National Trust Gifts, plants and second-hand books for sale. Help us open the shop or get involved with sorting and pricing second-hand book donation ready to sale.

• Plant sales: Calling everyone with green fingers! We need your help tending and selling plants to our visitors from the plant sales area, and to assist with special events in the garden

• Raffle Ticket Seller: One of our many fund raising activities is the promotion and sale of raffle tickets. We need your help to sell raffle tickets to our visitors, which will raise essential funds for the upkeep of Melford Hall.

• Events Assistant: We hold a varied programme of special events throughout the season including Easter Trails, talks and tours, and Beatrix Potter story telling. Your help is needed for promoting, organising and stewarding events.

If you are interested, please contact us for an informal chat and see how you can make a real difference and at the same time learn new skills, meet new people and work right at the heart of this amazing house and garden.

Contact details

For more information please contact the volunteer co-ordinator at Melford Hall on 01787 379 228 or by email.

Throughout the year there are social occasions organised for the volunteers culminating in the Christmas Party held in the Great Hall. There are also outings and talks throughout the year. Other benefits include the reimbursement of travel expenses up to 40 miles per round trip and the gift of a volunteering card to recognise significant service giving discount in National Trust shops and restaurants and free entry into our properties