We care for a few buildings designed for recreation, for sport, for the visual and performing arts - including film and cinema - and other forms of public recreation.

One place of particular note is the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - a rare surviving Georgian playhouse, which is still in use today.

Smallhythe Place in Kent was the home of the Victorian actress Dame Ellen Terry from 1899 to 1928. The house is full of relics of Terry’s long and eventful life, including a letter from Oscar Wilde. The persecuted playwright writes 'perhaps some day I shall be fortunate to write something worthy of your playing.' The gardens include the Barn Theatre which is open courtesy of the Barn Theatre Society.

Lodge Park on the picturesque Sherborne Estate in Gloucestershire was created in 1634 by John 'Crump' Dutton. Inspired by his passion for gambling and banqueting it is a unique survival of a grandstand, deer course and park. In the 19th century the interior was altered beyond recognition. Since 1994, the grandstand has been returned to its original form.

The beautiful terraced gardens at Chartwell contain Sir Winston Churchill's large garden artist studio. Many of his paintings are displayed, hanging five deep on the walls.

The park at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, designed by Robert Adam, has several buildings to his designs, including a fishing pavilion.

The 1400 acre landscape gardens of moorland, woodland and parkland at Lyme Park in Cheshire contain an early 18th-century hunting tower called 'the Cage'.

Other National Trust places where you can see recreational architecture:

Wimpole Hall, Garden, Park & Home Farm in Cambridgeshire. Watersmeet House in Devon. Hatfield Forest in Essex. Newark Park in Gloucestershire. King John's Hunting Lodge in Somerset.