Fascinating facts and figures

Have you ever wondered which was the first house we ever bought, or how many pubs we look after? We've collected together some of our favourite little-known facts and figures about our places, and the work we do to look after them. If you've ever wanted to know how many cups of tea we serve every year, this is the place to find out.

Woolsthorpe Manor, birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton, with the famous apple tree

Gravity was discovered on our land 

Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire, is believed to be the very one that inspired him in 1665, when the 'notion of gravitation came to mind' after he watched an apple fall. The tree, a rare variety Flower of Kent, fell down in 1820, but is still growing well, having rooted where the trunk touched the ground.

Explore Woolsthorpe Manor
Children in the rain

We love a wet day 

Over 43 per cent of rainwater in England and Wales drains through National Trust places and spaces.

Learn about our work to protect the environment
Visitor drinking coffee at Cliveden

We love a cuppa 

Each year, we serve over 4.5 million cups of tea. That's quite a lot of tea.

Visit one of our tempting tea-rooms
Clapperboard used during the filming of 'Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box' at St Michael's Mount, Cornwall

We're film stars 

The cloisters at Lacock Abbey were transformed into Hogwarts classrooms for the filming of the 'Harry Potter' movies, and we've also helped to provide beautiful settings for Poldark, Downton Abbey and more.

Explore our film sets
Tractor and sheep at Ilam Park, Derbyshire.

We're one big farming family 

We look after 248,000 hectares of land, around half of which is designated for nature in some way, and we have over 1,500 tenanted farms.

Learn about our Fine Farm Produce Awards
View towards the stage at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

We like to tread the boards 

We look after the only surviving Regency playhouse in Britain - the historic Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Take in a show at the Theatre Royal
The dining room at Uppark House, Sussex

We like a bit of table dancing 

The dining table at Uppark in West Sussex is where Nelson’s future lover, the beautiful Emma Hamilton, is said once to have danced naked by way of an hors d’oeuvre during her tenure as Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh’s fiesty mistress.

Find out more about Uppark House
The George Inn, Southwark, London, view showing table and chairs with tankards

The drinks are on us 

We own and run 39 pubs and inns, including the George Inn in Southwark, featured in Dickens' Little Dorrit.

Try some of our favourite pub walks
Volunteer guide at Erddig

We have over 61,000 volunteers 

Thanks to over 61,000 volunteers, who in 2017/18 gave more than 4.6 million hours of their time to support the National Trust in more than 500 roles.

Become a volunteer
Coastal sunset at Fair Head, County Antrim

We care for miles of coastline 

We look after 778 miles of coastline, including some of the best beaches and coastal paths in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Take a trip to the seaside
Large Blue butterfly

Bats and butterflies love our places 

There are 18 species of bat in the UK, and all of these can be found at some of our special places. We're at the forefront of bat conservation in the UK and produce advice for builders, conservators and foresters who encounter bats. We also provide important habitats for butterflies, and helped to re-introduce the beautiful large blue butterfly to England after it was declared extinct in the UK in 1979.

Find out more about the wildlife we look after
Bush radio in the childhood home of John Lennon

We own the place where radio was invented 

The Marconi Centre in Podhu, Cornwall, received the world’s first transatlantic radio transmission in 1901 – an experimental SOS was sent by Marconi himself from Newfoundland to the lonely site on the Lizard Peninsula.

Visit the Lizard
Houses in the village at Lacock, Wiltshire

Village people 

We protect 56 villages, including Buttermere in Cumbria and Lacock in Wiltshire.

Explore the streets of Lacock Village
The lovely poppies in the vegetable garden at Alfriston Clergy House

Our first house was... 

Alfriston Clergy House in East Sussex, a dilapidated medieval meeting house which we acquired in 1896 for the sum of £10 (about £600 in today's money).

Explore Alfriston Clergy House
View of the Giant's Causeway

We've got the whole world in our hands 

Four World Heritage Sites exist on our land by the coast. They are the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast, Dorset and East Devon Coast, Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscapes and Hadrian’s Wall. We also own some World heritage sites inland

Learn more abour our World Heritage Sites
Aerial view of Gateholm Island

Tidal Flooding is a big issue for us 

126 of our coastal sites are at risk from tidal flooding and 606km (60 per cent) of our coastline is at risk of erosion.

Learn more about our work to care for the coast
View across the fens at Wicken Fen

We own the UK's oldest nature reserve 

We own Britain’s oldest nature reserve, Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, acquired in 1899. More recently, Orford Ness reserve was the site of Britain’s nuclear weapon testing programme in the 1950’s.

Visit Wicken Fen
Common toad in a muddy puddle

We protect all kinds of wildlife 

Some 45 volunteer toad patrollers help save toads on the North Yorkshire Moors

Learn about our work with wildlife
Shepherd and sheepdog working sheep on Hafod y Llan farm

We offer lots of unusual jobs 

We have 120 volunteer firefighters, 15 volunteer pilots, two beekeepers and two shepherds.

Look at our vacancies
Coins embedded in a tree trunk in Dovedale, Derbyshire.

We depend on your donations 

Almost £45 million was gifted to the Trust in legacies alone during 2011/12, plus over £12 million from appeals and gifts.

Donate today
A group enjoys a burial mound tour at Sutton Hoo

We're pretty BIG! 

We are the largest voluntary conservation organisation in Europe (recruiting more than one member every minute during the summer months). The only organisation in the UK to have a larger membership is the AA.

Join us
Conservators stitching tapestry

Tapestry tales 

A 1m sq of tapestry costs £4,333 to conserve, whereas it costs approximately £26,500 per m sq to weave a new tapestry (according to trials carried out by West Dean College).

Learn more about our collections conservation work
Flower growing in the garden

Plants rule 

We have 32 Plant Heritage National Plant Collections – making us the largest single collection holder in the UK.

Read about our plant collections
Auditorium during The National Trust Annual General Meeting 2008, held at the Arena & Convention Centre Liverpool

We beat the main political parties 

With over 5 million members, we are proud to have about six times more members than all the main political parties put together.

Become a member
The front of Stourhead House at sunset

Stourhead inspired Thunderbirds 

Stourhead house was the inspiration for Lady Penelope’s residence in the original Thunderbirds puppet series in the 1960’s.

Visit Stourhead
A girl and boy discover traditional toys at the Museum of Childhood

We love museums 

We look after one in 10 of all the museums in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Learn about the Museum of Childhood
The billiard table at Ightham Mote

We love eclectic collections 

We own 49 churches, nine monasteries and eight billiard tables - the one at Tyntesfield is electronically heated.

Explore our collections