Reasons to make One More Visit

There are so many great days out to be enjoyed with the National Trust. Here are some suggestions, and just a sample of how your One More Visit can make a difference:

Bedfordshire

Head for the Chilterns Gateway Centre in the heart of Dunstable Downs to experience the simple pleasure of flying a kite. The chalk grassland hills give outstanding views over the Vale of Aylesbury and are home to a wealth of wildlife, especially butterflies.

Further south, you can enjoy the tranquil atmosphere of Whipsnade Tree Cathedral, planted after the First World War in a spirit of ‘faith, hope and reconciliation’. Trees, hedges and grass avenues form the chancel, nave, transepts, chapels and cloisters.

Dunstable Downs:

57 visits enable us to clear 1ha of scrub on the steepest slopes of Dunstable Downs.
250 visits enable us to conserve the Chalk Grassland Sites of Special Scientific Interest at Dunstable Downs, Whipsnade Downs, Sharpenhoe Clappers, Sundon Country Park, Moleskin and Markham Hills each year.
37 visits enable the Chilterns Gateway Centre to have clean windows all year round.
100 visits enable us to mow all the amenity grass at Dunstable Downs each year.
20 visits enable us to remove all the litter dropped on Dunstable Downs, Whipsnade Downs, Sharpenhoe Clappers, Sundon Country Park, Moleskin and Markham Hills in a month.

Cambridgeshire

Anglesey Abbey offers the choice of a taste of the golden age of English country house living, stunning formal gardens with different ‘rooms’ for different seasons, and the call of the wild in the Hoe Fen Wildlife Discovery Area.

Set in the heart of Wisbech, the impressive Georgian façade of Peckover House is just the starting point for a great day out. The two acres of Victorian garden concealed behind the house come as a beautiful surprise.

World-renowned for its nature, Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve is a great place to lose yourself in another world. There are plenty of events and trails to captivate children’s attention, and miles of boardwalk to explore this fenland haven.

Arguably the grandest working estate in Cambridgeshire, Wimpole offers a magnificent country house complete with formal, pleasure and walled gardens. There's also all the fun of Home Farm where you can get up close to many of the rare breeds which flourish there.

Anglesey Abbey:

666 visits enabled us to conserve two Ming lacquer chairs.
747 visits have allowed us to replenish an area of 48 silver birch trees (Betula papyrifera ‘St George’) that had reached the end of their life span.
1000 visits keep Anglesey Abbey heated for a week.
70 visits keep the vacuum cleaners in the house in action for another year.

Peckover:

4 visits would pay for a new specimen tree to be planted in the Wilderness.
6 visits would pay for a ream of acid-free tissue paper to wrap collection objects in store.
35 visits would pay for the annual service of the Personal Mobility Vehicle.
167 visits would pay for two days work in the garden by a specialist tree surgeon.

Wicken Fen:

300 visits have enabled us to employ a warden for a month to help with the sedge harvest.
30 visits have enabled us to buy one water vole monitoring raft.
161 visits have enabled our wardens to buy a new chainsaw.
15 visits have enabled us to buy a swift nest box.

Wimpole Hall:

1000 visits enable us to complete 300m of hedge laying.
190 visits have enabled Wimpole Home Farm to purchase our new Jersey cow, Buzz, for milking demonstrations.
40 visits pay for horseshoes, which last six weeks for one shire horse when it is working.
10,000 visits mean we can restore and re-display the Red Room.

Essex

The flourishing village of Coggeshall is just one example of what makes Essex special. The 13th-century Grange Barn is one of the oldest timber framed barns in Europe. Its impressive size belies its intricate and beautiful construction. Around the corner is Paycocke’s, a merchant’s house dating from about 1500. The exterior is richly decorated to demonstrate the owner’s affluence, while the intimate cottage garden behind the house offers a riot of colour and scent.

Paycocke’s

20 visits allow us to get the leaded light windows cleaned.
55 visits mean we can keep the cobwebs cleaned from the beams for a complete summer.
83 visits enable us to get the lawnmower serviced and cover running costs so the volunteer garden team can keep the grass cut.

Coggeshall Grange Barn

46 visits will pay for the start of the season spring clean.

Bourne Mill

128 visits will pay for the replacement of one of the water wheel 'buckets', to help keep the mill wheel turning for another year.

Hertfordshire

Tucked away in rural Ayot St Lawrence, Shaw’s Corner was home to George Bernard Shaw for 44 years. It remains as Shaw left it, with his reading glasses and typewriter on the desk, and music open on the piano. The lovely garden, complete with orchard, contains Shaw’s writing hut which revolved to ensure he had the best light by which to write.

Shaw’s Corner:

14 visits will enable us to repair and conserve the carpets in the Drawing Room and Museum Room.
12 visits have enabled us to repair George Bernard Shaw's Dressing Gown, as well as a cushion cover and pair of curtains.
240 visits enable us to maintain the gorgeous garden each year.
5 visits enable us to send out all our post each year.
5 visits will enable us to repair a chair in the Drawing Room.

Norfolk

Norfolk boasts the beautiful estates of Blickling and Felbrigg, both offering more than a day’s worth of enjoyment. Sheringham Park is Humphry Repton’s finest work, with miles of woodland and parkland to discover.

Blickling Hall:

133 visits would provide all the hyacinths needed for the spring border.
3 visits would pay to improve 1sqm of woodland path.
30 visits would pay for the annual wax and polish of the Long Gallery floor.
200 visits would pay for the annual window cleaning of Blickling Hall.

Felbrigg:

1 visit would pay our postage for a week.
10 visits keep our mowers going for a month.
50 visits would help us buy and plant 25 trees.
100 visits would help us conserve 1sqm of Chinese wallpaper.

Oxburgh:

15 visits would pay for the wildflower seeds sown in the Orchard.
17 visits would re-lamp the Chandelier in the Saloon.
45 visits would pay the volunteer expenses to open the House for one day.
250 visits would pay for a half-length blind in the Dining Room.

Suffolk

Choose between the coastal Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at Dunwich Heath, with its open tracts of heather and gorse, shady woods, sandy cliffs and beach; or the pretty, quintessentially Suffolk villages of Lavenham, with its Guildhall, and Long Melford, home to Melford Hall. Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, explains the start of English history, with the ship-burial of an Anglo-Saxon warrior king.

Dunwich Heath:

2 visits would help to manage 1sqm of the heathland for a year.
33 visits would allow 15 more children's trail boards to be produced (basically a whole new trail!).
116 visits would allow us to produce 5 more Tracker packs for families to use free of charge on site.
433 visits would buy us a new gazebo for events.

Lavenham Guildhall:

50 visits pay for the cost of cleaning the windows each year.
100 visits pay for our lovely oak floorboards to have their annual clean and wax polish.
250 visits pay for UV filter for the diamond window lights, to protect the museum collection from light damage.
1400 visits pay for the cost of heating and lighting the Guildhall each year.

Melford Hall:

1 visit pays for six pest traps, vital for monitoring pests that attack the collection.
10 visits pay for a horologist to come and inspect the clocks.
20 visits pay for the travel costs for our volunteers to open the property for a single afternoon.
40 visits paid for the re-planting of Lady Ulla's Pond.

Sutton Hoo:

50 visits will mean we can repair our rabbit-proof fencing.
100 visits will enable us to buy a replica of Sutton Hoo's great gold buckle.
300 visits will help us renew all our external signage.
400 will help us control ragwort for a year.

The National Trust

Reasons to make One More Visit