From: charleen@ADS.COM (Charleen Bunjiovianna)
Subject: SUMMARY: National Trust:  Stately homes and castles in the U.K.
Organization: The Original Estrogen-Crazed Lust Bunnies
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 22:58:52 GMT

I wrote:
>I'm thinking about buying a (membership? pass?) in the National Trust
>for an upcoming trip to tour the English countryside.  Fodor's says it's
>$40 for an individual.
>
>Has anyone used one of these passes?  What did you visit, and did you
>feel the pass was a good value?

Thanks to all who responded!  As promised, here's a summary of answers.
It's amazing the wealth of information that's freely provided on rec.travel
when people ask specific questions...

From: jlw@keps.kodak.com (Julie Webster)

I got the pass when I went to Scotland and England 2 years ago.
While I was there I kept records of what the admissions costs
were and how much I saved. The pass is definately worth it. Many
places cost $10-12 [I don't think the exchange rates have
improved any but if you're interested I can look up the costs in
pounds for you.]

Everything we visited in Scotland took the passes. Just about
everything in the English countryside did as well. London was the
only place where it wasn't very useful although even there it saved
us half price at a few places like the Tower. In the countryside we 
went to places like Tintagel, St Michael's Mount, Stonehenge, the 
ruins in Bath, etc.

One thing to remember is to ask everywhere. There weren't signs at
places indicating whether they accepted the pass and everyone
seemed to expect the question. We found out after we'd already paid
to get into the State apartments at Windsor that it was accepted 
there. We did use it for the Doll House and Carriage house.

Have fun and let me know if more specifics would be helpful!

From: nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu (Nathaniel Beck)

I didn't have a pass, but typical admission to a castle is about 2
pounds, almost 4 bucks. The joy of not having to think whetehr some
castle is worth the 4 bucks probably makes the card worht it if you
come at all close. We wer eonly touring for the weekend, so it
wasn't. But even then it was close

From: bartho@cc.und.ac.za

We had a family pass when we toured the UK about 3 years ago. It proved to 
be a really good choice and well worth the outlay possibly because we made 
it that way by trying to get to at least one Nat. Trust place per day. This 
made us visit some really interesting places which we would never have gone 
to otherwise.

At that time, the fee to join the Scottish National Trust was slightly less 
and this allowed you to visit all British Nat. Trust properties as well, but 
we only found this out after we got there! 

The costs of entry vary, anywhere from 1 Pound to 5 Pounds, so depending on 
the number you wish to visit as to the use of the pass.

An alternative is to join English Heritage for about the same price - we 
joined both - which caters more for the castles and abbeys. This includes 
the Tower of London (entry 4 pounds), Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, etc. 
There is also a certain amount of overlap between the two e.g. Hadrians 
Wall, etc.

One the best things of either pass is that you bypass the unbelievable time 
spent queueing to purchase entrance tickets.

Try to obtain a copy of the guide to properties provided by Heritage and/or 
Nat Trust, since these will aid in your planning as they give a description 
of the property and the opening times (some only certain days per week, 
certain times of year). If you join in sufficient time before you leave, 
these will be posted to you, but leave enough time for this to occur. 
Otherwise you can join at any office in the UK once you are there, although 
this cuts into the valuable time one has at ones disposal.

There is also a special pass to stately homes only (check with the British 
Tourist Authority), but I am not sure of the price.

I hope this gives you some helpful info. Don't hesitate to ask more specific 
and I'll try to answer.

Ray Bartho                          

From: ehlen@tecsun1.tec.army.mil (Judy Ehlen)

I highly recommend joining the National Trust - or the Royal Oak Fundation
(more about that later).  I generally find that I exceed the membership fee
in a couple of weekend's worth of National Trusting.  There are many proper-
ties that do not belong to the National Trust, but just NT places usually 
keep me busy.  The other major property owner is the DEpartment of the Environ-
ment and they have their own membership -- I don't know the details.  And not
only do you get into the NT propeties free with member ship, you get their mag-
azine, which is quite nice.  And catalogues of what they sell in their shops.
You can figure that the minimum entrance fee for an historic house would be
L2.50, the the more popular the house, the higher the fee.  Some I think are
over L4.  NT properties are "denser" in the south and midlands than they are
in the north, so if you are planning to spend your time in the Lakes or York-
shire it may not be worth your while, but otherwise, I would say do it.

Royal Oak is an American organization -- the American arm of the NT.  It acts 
as a charity so "contributions" -- aka membership fee -- is tax deductable.
Personally, I prefer being a member of the NT directly.

<and, in response to my request for permission to include this in a summary...>
Sure, go ahead.  One thing I didn't tell you is that not only do you get the
magazine and catalogue, but each year they send you a paperback guide to all
their properties that are open that year with opening times, listed as well
as other facilities and a description of each property.  They do it by county
and there is a map at the beginning of each section so you can use it to plan
a whole trip (I have been known to do that...) or just a day out.  That in as0
sociation with the CAMRA Good Beer Guide makes for a heavenly holiday.

If you reply early tomorrow (2 Sept: I'm off to England for a month tomorrow
night), I'd be happy to recommend places NT and otherwise in the areas.  I've
traveled extensively in the U.K. and have even had the pleasure of living there
for two wonderful years.

Judi


Once again, thanks everyone.

Charleen

--
When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all
go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It
wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.