Favourite National Trust place?

[fellyjish]

We got NT membership for Xmas and it kicks in tomorrow! I'm really excited and want to use it to the full! Where are your favourite NT places?

I'm in the South West but would like to use it as a tool to plan weekends away/visit friends etc too!

YY to Stourhead and Cotehele
Cragside
Nostell Priory
Hardcastle Crags
Brimham Rocks

Calke Abbey

Fountains Abbey is well worth the trip, make sure you walk all the way round to the deer park too.
Lots of fantastic places to visit in north Yorkshire, especially with kids

If you’ve got kids. Don't forget this. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/50-things-to-do

If you are ever in North Wales

Penrhyn Castle (Bangor)
Erddig (Wrexham)
Chick Castle
Bodnant Gardens (Conwy)

Clumber Park

I love Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire, I'm lucky enough to be within walking distance. Even further Colby Woodland Garden (which I think is a bit magic and possibly always sunny) and the Tudor Merchants House in Tenby is tiny, but fascinating.

Brownsea Island and Belton House are my favourites and worth planning a holiday to the relevant areas to visit.

Stongehenge is a bit of a tourist trap but worth a visit as something to tick off as it's eyewatering expensive to enter.

If you do come to North Yorkshire you need to go to Malham Cove/Tarn.

I live in the middle of Fountains Abbey/Brimham Rocks and can walk to either. I think that the rocks are good when kids are little but the moor is small for a walk once they are big enough to walk further if you are arriving by car.

Malham Cove and the limestone pavement are amazing ... it was literally my childhood playground so maybe I am a bit biased 😂. The tarn is NT.

I would suggest staying around Stratford-upon-Avon

There are so many to choice from within a very short distance baddsley Clinton & packwood house are very close you could do both in one day. Charlecotte is then very lovely. Then drive into the Coteswolds for snowford

Lots of good NT places just off the A303 if you use that route eg Stourhead, Barrington Court and Montacute House. Also KnightHayes Court just off the A361 near Tiverton.

Stourhead is my favourite. If you're going for the first time do it in May when the rhododendrons are simply glorious.

When the children were little we always used to stop off at NT places on our way down to the West Country (or anywhere else for that matter) so that they could have a run around and wear themselves out a bit.

Stourhead. Here is a pic of the grotto there. If you're going to walk right round the lake make sure you use the toilets first it is pretty long and none on the way!

Chartwell
Polesdon Lacey

@ivykaty44 yes SUA to stay isn't a bad idea for a weekend. You've also got Coughton Court near too (which is my favourite of the ones nearby) which is the last place some of the gunpowder plotters stayed before being captured after Guy Fawkes. They were rounded up and arrested in the woods up the hill after fleeing Coughton. If you watched the BBC adaptation a few years ago some of it was filmed there too.

But I also love it because the gardens are beautiful. The family retain responsibility for them and the walled garden is fantastic every summer.

Oh and Upton House is approx 30 mins away from SUA if you're into art. One of NT's biggest collections I think.

But also check out some of the places that aren't always open. Round here Farnborough Hall is also great, but it's only open a couple of days a month. Stairs carpet of dreams though...

Love National Trust places! My favourites are Blickling in Norfolk, Culzean Castle in Ayr and Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire.

Bear in mind Coughton Court tends to be shut over the winter, I think it opens again at about Easter.

There are loads in the SW. I love Lanhydrock, wish we lived closer. Basildon Park near Reading is nice if you have kids as the 1950s kitchen is all hands on and you can touch everything. Snowshill and Stourhead are good.

Adding Plas Newydd to the list if in North Wales. Sitting on the grass overlooking the Menai Straits is just blissful.

Overbecks and Coleton Fishacre have lovely sea views. At Overbecks you can see the whole Salcombe Estuary which is stunning

Stourhead
White Horse Hill, Uffington (would be grand up there this morning)
Greys Court
Waddesdon

Fountains abbey

@PsychosonicCindy. Definitely go to the loos first before walking round the lake. Been desperate to go halfway round more than once and it's a long way back or a desperate search for a private place for a wild wee

Stourhead, but i go for the grounds not the house. The walk round the lake is quite short ( 40 mins) but really full of interest. Good for buggies and little legs too.

Also there are two places near Bradford on Avon, The courts, a pretty garden, and ac tiny ancient Manor House in the countryside with its own chapel, whose name I can’t remember, but there’s something really magical about it.

Sort of an opposite cross post. I guess the definition of a long or short walk is subjective.