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  "path": "/a-year-of-national-trust-visits/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-13T09:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.jamesleighton.com",
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  "textContent": "A year ago my wife received a joint National Trust membership from her grandparents for her birthday. We visited 24 places last year using the membership and found it such good value that we renewed for this year.\n\nWe discovered that we simply found reasons to get out and about, to use the membership and visited so many places we wouldn't have. You will find my blog posts about some of these visits here.\n\nIf we'd paid for entry, we would have spent nearly £650; A joint membership is £168 so the savings are real.\n\nOver the year we saw and touched real history including the house where Charles II hid (Moseley Old Hall) Isaac Newton's house (Woolsthorpe Manor) and even saw a Neanderthal skull in the Geological Gallery at Biddulph Grange Garden.\n\nApparently NT membership is growing amongst the younger generations and it's easy to see why. Aren't we are looking for ways to unplug from the doom and gloom of modern day life? Nothing is better than walking around a woodland or garden, then finishing the day with a scone.\n\n### Dudmaston Hall, Shropshire\n\n21-Apr-2025 - Our first visit of the year - A 17th-century National Trust house in wooded parkland, known for its sweeping gardens and an important private art collection.\n\n### Pont ar Daf car park, Brecon Beacons (South Wales)\n\n9-May-2025 - This car park at the foot of Pen y Fan gives access to National Trust walking routes. We picked the day perfectly and had clear views for miles from the top of Pen-y-Fan.\n\n### Attingham Park Estate: Cronkhill, Shropshire\n\n11-May-2025 - Only open for limited viewing, Cronkhill is an Italianate villa on the Attingham Park Estate, designed by John Nash.\n\n### Attingham Park Estate, Shropshire\n\n11-May-2025 - An 18th-century estate featuring 200 acres of parkland and a Regency mansion—an “estate for all seasons.\". One of the highlights of the year.\n\n### Benthall Hall, Shropshire\n\n15-May-2025 - Whilst the house was closed on the day we passed by, we still got to walk around the estate.\n\n### Powis Castle and Garden, Mid Wales\n\n16-May-2025 - An impressive medieval castle on a hill with a Grade I garden. Well worth a visit if you're in mid Wales\n\n### Moseley Old Hall, Staffordshire\n\n31-May-2025 - An atmospheric Elizabethan home famed for hiding King Charles II from Cromwell’s army.\n\n### Calke Abbey, Derbyshire\n\n28-Jun-2025 - Calke Abbey is the National Trust’s “un-stately” home, where peeling paint and abandoned rooms help tell a vivid story of country-house decline.\n\n### Brockhampton, Herefordshire\n\n20-Jul-2025 - A traditionally farmed estate built around a medieval manor house in the Herefordshire countryside.\n\n### Lyme, Cheshire\n\n5-Aug-2025 - A grand house and estate on the edge of the Peak District, with plenty of scenery to pair with a visit indoors. The outdoor scenes of 1995's Pride and Prejudice was filmed here, and we managed to book tickets on a walk around the filming locations on the estate.\n\n### Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire\n\n7-Aug-2025 - A Victorian landscaped garden known for its “garden rooms,” created to showcase a wide range of plants from around the world.\n\n### Westbury Court Garden, Gloucestershire\n\n19-Aug-2025 - A Dutch water garden in Gloucestershire with formal canals, rare trees, and vegetable plots.\n\n### Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire\n\n5-Sep-2025 - Woolsthorpe Manor is the birthplace and family home of Sir Isaac Newton, tied to his early scientific work. The apple tree was an impressive sight.\n\n### Chirk Castle, Wales\n\n19-Oct-2025 - A 13th-century castle with award-winning gardens and acres of parkland in Chirk.\n\n### Charlecourt Park, Warwickshire\n\n23-Nov-2025 - A country house set within rural parkland near Stratford-upon-Avon.\n\n### Knighthayes, Devon\n\n13-Feb-2026 - The start of a long weekend of National Trust vists - A Devon estate with miles of 19th-century parkland and Gothic Revival architecture designed by William Burges.\n\n### Coleton Fishacre, Devon\n\n14-Feb-2026 - Coleton Fishacre is a coastal estate with an Arts-and-Crafts garden and a historic house overlooking the South West.\n\n### Greenway, Devon\n\n15-Feb-2026 - Agatha Christie’s former holiday home on the River Dart—now a National Trust property with a house-and-garden visit.\n\n### Buckland Abbey, Devon\n\n15-Feb-2026 - A centuries-spanning site blending a medieval abbey history with house highlights such as the Great Barn.\n\n### Tyntesfield, Somerset\n\n16-Feb-2026 - A spectacular Victorian Gothic Revival house with gardens and parkland just outside Bristol.\n\n### Stourhead, Wiltshire\n\n08-Mar-2026 - Stourhead is famous for its neo-classical landscape garden—temples, grottos and water features set within the estate\n\n### Dolaucothi Gold Mines, Carmarthenshire\n\n12-Apr-2026 - The UK’s only known Roman gold mine, set in the Cothi Valley and preserved for visitors. A thoroughly different National Trust experience.\n\n### Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion\n\n12-Apr-2026 - A Georgian villa by John Nash overlooking the Aeron valley with woods, meadows and a working farmyard surrounding the estate.\n\n* * *\n\nThis is post 26 of #100DaysToOffload.\n\n* * *\n\nTo respond on your own website, write a post which contains a link to this post - then enter the URl of your page here. Learn more about WebMentions.\n\n* * *",
  "title": "A year of National Trust Visits",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-13T08:49:43.766Z"
}