1934
The Marquis of Lothian had had to dispose of some of his most precious possessions when he inherited four great houses and estates in 1930. This was ironic, as he had served as private secretary to Lloyd George, who had been responsible for introducing taxation at 40% for those in Lothian’s position. "As an ordinary citizen I think highly of these arrangements", Lothian told the former Prime Minister, but added that the consequences for Blickling and his other houses "will prove rather embarrassing".

At the Trust’s Annual General Meeting in 1934 Lothian proposed that the Trust should be able to accept the gift of country houses, with endowments in land or capital which would be free of tax. These new powers were provided in the National Trust Act of 1937.

1939
The gift of Quarry Bank Mill and Styal village in Cheshire marked the beginning of the Trust’s involvement with sites of major importance for their industrial archaeology.

1940
Lord Lothian set the seal on his Country Houses Scheme by bequeathing to the Trust his Jacobean house, Blickling, in Norfolk, with an estate of 4,760 acres. Much of the success of the scheme was due to the Secretary of the Country Houses Committee, James Lees-Milne. James trekked around the country by train, on a bicycle, or in the Trust’s ancient and unreliable car, visiting the owners of country houses such as Stourhead, Attingham Park, Lacock Abbey, Wallington and Lyme Park.

During the next 20 years these and many more country houses were given to the Trust, at a time when other estates were being broken up wholesale.

1945
When the Trust celebrated its Golden Jubilee, it owned 112,000 acres of land, 93 historic buildings and had 7,850 members.

1946
The National Land Fund was established by Dr Hugh Dalton, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, using money from the sale of surplus war stores.

The Fund was set up to be a memorial to those killed in the Second World War. A succession of great country houses were transferred to the Trust with assistance from the Land Fund.

1948
Hidcote, in Gloucestershire, was given to the Trust by Major Lawrence Johnston.

That year the Royal Horticultural Society and the Trust launched the Gardens Scheme, to encourage and fund the acquisition of outstanding gardens.

1965
The protection of the coast has from its earliest years been one of the Trust’s principal activities, but acquisitions had been piecemeal. With the launch of Enterprise Neptune the Trust set itself to acquire coastline which might be at risk and which, in a specially commissioned survey, was found to be unspoilt.