Britain's Glories
The National Trust owns the most remarkable collection of houses of any country in the world. It opens to the public over 300 properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, most of them with extensive gardens and parks.
Formed over the course of the 20th century, mostly when such houses seemed unsustainable in private hands, it has not just sustained them but proved them popular. Some four million Trust members support them. Some 18 million visits are paid to them each year.
2 These typical back-toback houses in Birmingham were constructed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. With tiny rooms, a shared privy and wash-house, building such homes was banned in 1876, but people lived here until 1966. 3 Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire, was extended in 1720: the lefthand facade was given Georgian sash windows, but, quaintly, the stone-mullioned and transomed casements were retained on the opposite side
While some houses in their new catalogue and tribute, Houses Of The National Trust, are grand, many are modest and even quirky. For every Knole, Lyme, Petworth or Kedleston there is a Hardy’s cottage, a Beatles house or a Birmingham back-to-back. Indeed in recent years the flow of larger properties to the Trust has almost ceased, as ‘new rich’ owners have come into play and as private trusts become more sophisticated. That said, each year brings another Tyntesfield, Seaton Delaval or Tredegar. Smaller properties, as well as gardens and landscapes, continue to arrive. Most recently we acquired the extraordinary 575 Wandsworth Road in London, and Lord Nuffield’s former house in Oxfordshire.
4 The typical 1950s kitchen at Mendips, Liverpool, where John Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi, was restored by the National Trust in 2002. 5 Thomas Hardy grew up in this pretty cob and thatch cottage in Dorchester, Dorset, the inspiration for his classic novels
What is changing more radically is the style in which these houses are presented. There has been a loosening up, an end to the so-called dead hand of Trust identity. Houses are to be allowed to speak for themselves. This programme of ‘bringing houses to life’ has been challenging for staff, who must decide what aspect or storyline to promote at any one time.
The result has been immensely popular with visitors. They can see houses in a changing light and, by acting as guests rather than passersby, they can enter into their spirit. Fires are being lit at Petworth, pianos played at Stourhead, kitchens brought into use at Buckland Abbey. At Wray Castle in the Lakes, visitors are invited to fill what are currently empty places with their imagination, camping in rooms and even making their own tea.
6 Tredegar House, Newport, was built on the site of a Tudor mansion. Its late 17th-century entrance is fronted by a gilded, wroughtiron screen and gates, c. 1714-18. 7 The Blue Room at Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire, lined with the ornate cabinets that inspired young Charles Wade
We have also been able to bring to life the characters who created or infused these places. We can see William Armstrong, the armaments tycoon, at Cragside, or the eccentric collector Charles Paget Wade at Snowshill. We can compose poetry alongside Coleridge at Nether Stowey, watch a country house weekend at Upton or a tennis tournament at Hidcote.
8 Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland, was built in the early 18th century for theatrical effect. Doric columns frame the entrance, while a penthouse resembles a classical temple
A National Trust property is never wholly still, though there should always be stillness somewhere about it. I shall never forget my first visit to Fenton House in Hampstead. I looked out over the metropolis from an upstairs window in utter peace, broken only by the sound of a piano drifting up from the drawing room below. A Trust house should be what its founder Octavia Hill demanded, a place that takes people from the humdrum of life and refreshes and enriches them with the experience of beauty. I hope this book begins that enrichment.
Simon Jenkins is Chairman of the National Trust.
Houses Of The National Trust by Lydia Greeves, with foreword by Simon Jenkins, is published by National Trust Books, priced £30.
Formed over the course of the 20th century, mostly when such houses seemed unsustainable in private hands, it has not just sustained them but proved them popular. Some four million Trust members support them. Some 18 million visits are paid to them each year.
2 These typical back-toback houses in Birmingham were constructed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. With tiny rooms, a shared privy and wash-house, building such homes was banned in 1876, but people lived here until 1966. 3 Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire, was extended in 1720: the lefthand facade was given Georgian sash windows, but, quaintly, the stone-mullioned and transomed casements were retained on the opposite side While some houses in their new catalogue and tribute, Houses Of The National Trust, are grand, many are modest and even quirky. For every Knole, Lyme, Petworth or Kedleston there is a Hardy’s cottage, a Beatles house or a Birmingham back-to-back. Indeed in recent years the flow of larger properties to the Trust has almost ceased, as ‘new rich’ owners have come into play and as private trusts become more sophisticated. That said, each year brings another Tyntesfield, Seaton Delaval or Tredegar. Smaller properties, as well as gardens and landscapes, continue to arrive. Most recently we acquired the extraordinary 575 Wandsworth Road in London, and Lord Nuffield’s former house in Oxfordshire.
4 The typical 1950s kitchen at Mendips, Liverpool, where John Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi, was restored by the National Trust in 2002. 5 Thomas Hardy grew up in this pretty cob and thatch cottage in Dorchester, Dorset, the inspiration for his classic novelsWhat is changing more radically is the style in which these houses are presented. There has been a loosening up, an end to the so-called dead hand of Trust identity. Houses are to be allowed to speak for themselves. This programme of ‘bringing houses to life’ has been challenging for staff, who must decide what aspect or storyline to promote at any one time.
The result has been immensely popular with visitors. They can see houses in a changing light and, by acting as guests rather than passersby, they can enter into their spirit. Fires are being lit at Petworth, pianos played at Stourhead, kitchens brought into use at Buckland Abbey. At Wray Castle in the Lakes, visitors are invited to fill what are currently empty places with their imagination, camping in rooms and even making their own tea.
6 Tredegar House, Newport, was built on the site of a Tudor mansion. Its late 17th-century entrance is fronted by a gilded, wroughtiron screen and gates, c. 1714-18. 7 The Blue Room at Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire, lined with the ornate cabinets that inspired young Charles Wade We have also been able to bring to life the characters who created or infused these places. We can see William Armstrong, the armaments tycoon, at Cragside, or the eccentric collector Charles Paget Wade at Snowshill. We can compose poetry alongside Coleridge at Nether Stowey, watch a country house weekend at Upton or a tennis tournament at Hidcote.
8 Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland, was built in the early 18th century for theatrical effect. Doric columns frame the entrance, while a penthouse resembles a classical templeA National Trust property is never wholly still, though there should always be stillness somewhere about it. I shall never forget my first visit to Fenton House in Hampstead. I looked out over the metropolis from an upstairs window in utter peace, broken only by the sound of a piano drifting up from the drawing room below. A Trust house should be what its founder Octavia Hill demanded, a place that takes people from the humdrum of life and refreshes and enriches them with the experience of beauty. I hope this book begins that enrichment.
Simon Jenkins is Chairman of the National Trust.
Houses Of The National Trust by Lydia Greeves, with foreword by Simon Jenkins, is published by National Trust Books, priced £30.