Cumulatively they are quite simply the nation’s most significant cultural collection. And the Trust’s primary purpose will always be to care for and cherish them on behalf of the whole nation. That will not change, whatever the context. We'll continue to conserve, to catalogue, to curate.
But the context is an incredibly difficult one. Financial losses of more than £200m this year alone mean that we will have to cut our cloth differently in the coming years. We must reduce our costs significantly and, hugely regrettably, that means fewer people as well as less spend on other activity.
We’ve tried hard to minimise the impact of this on our conservation work. That means houses and gardens will be impacted less than some other areas of the Trust’s activity. It also means we’ll need to be more strategic in our approach than before. ‘Salami slicing’ of our resource won’t work. So we’ve had to think carefully about how to reorganise ourselves.
Most importantly, that means a much clearer differentiation between houses, gardens and collections of different significance. Our most significant treasure houses, for example, need as much curatorial and conservation support as possible. Our key gardens will always need a strong cohort of specialists and gardeners to maintain and improve them. But inevitably, in such straitened times, that means some places or collections will have less resource.
It also means varying the experience for our visitors more than we’ve done in the past. The houses with the most important collections and histories will be great cultural centres with rich interpretation and programming. Some of our smaller, character properties are likely to operate on reduced opening hours. But here we plan to turn this to benefit; working with our wonderful volunteers and staff to provide new guided tours and talks and a richer, more rounded experience. And some houses will operate much more flexibly than in the past. Partnerships with organisations ranging from local history societies to Park Run will ensure they are used and enjoyed by local people as well as those from further afield.
We’re already doing this; it isn’t a radical change. Take Beningbrough near York as an example. The house is displayed in distinctly different ways. The ground floor is presented as a historic interior, and a recent redisplay has moved some collections out of the house to focus on others. The first floor is a gallery, while the upper floor is an immersive exhibition aimed at families. Outside the gardens are being developed – developed not just restored – with new high quality elements added all the time.
At Croome in Worcestershire we’ve taken a very different approach with community-led exhibitions. And Knole in Kent has been restored as a wonderful archbishop’s palace, as a conservation studio and as the life-like, recreated apartment of Eddy Sackville West. This isn’t dumbing down, it’s quite the opposite – it’s taking a thoughtful, differentiated approach to the places we care for.