Anyone got National Trust membership and wish they hadn't?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I'm contemplating getting it for us this year. We only have weekends free, but also only holiday in the UK so would make use of it then too. We could stretch to the monthly direct debit but would need to feel it was worth it.

Anyone got it and just thought "meh"?

We are in the north east so there's maybe 3 or 4 sites within an hour or so drive of us.

When I lived in the NW, I cancelled my membership. Now I’m back in the SE, it’s worth every penny. Check what’s near and what you are really interested in doing before you decide.

I have English heritage and love it. We only need to visit our local place twice in a year to make it worthwhile and we go a lot more than that.

It's well worth it for us. We've got a great selection of properties within 30-40 minutes so gets good use from home. We use it like a trip to the park, and it doesn't have to be a big outing and getting everything out of the day. The kids like a good romp in the grounds pretending to be snipers

We also holiday in the UK a lot so use it then. Cornwall is packed full of gardens and houses so that pays for itself on days. We also break up the 7 hour journey by detouring to a house and grounds a few miles off the M5 and the kids get a good romp which they can't at services (except Gloucester, but that's the wrong spot). Plus with "free entry", you don't begrudge paying services prices for National Trust quality good. Beats Gordano!

The ILs stopped theirs after a few years. They had less on the doorstep and don't holiday around the UK so found they didn't really do enough big days out to justify it.

We are in the North East and use it loads. It pays for itself in like 2 trips to one of the more expensive places as there's 6 of us.

We go camping as well so we visit places all over.

We use ours a lot. IF we didn’t make full use of it in any particular year I’d consider it a donation to a worthwhile charity.

DD is now too old to be covered by our family membership so we have bought her a young persons membership and she uses it a lot.

We get our moneys worth - it only takes 3 trips to our local one to break even.

We go for a walk round that one maybe once a month (it's having a big regeneration so we pop in to see how it's doing. Plus lush cafe).

Probably visit other sites 4/5 times a year for cheap days out.

Dds are pre teens now though so think we're probably in the last few years.

I love it that I can just drop in to an NT place in passing to look at a few things or walk around the garden without feeling that I have to get my money's worth out of paying the full entrance fee. I quite often do that on impulse, particularly as I travel quite a lot for work and other purposes and can easily plan a route back that gives me an hour or two at an NT property. Also I go to the local places regularly to see them through the seasons, to see how they've prepared for Christmas, for special activities and events etc.

We've been members for years and I think it's incredibly good value for money. We definitely get our money's worth particularly when we are on holiday.

We’re English Heritage members as few NT places within easy reach. I love having it. Places like Dover Castle always have new events on.

I loved mine but key the membership lapse I have historic Scotland now and find it really excellent. Edinburgh castle, Stirling castle, inchmaholm priory etc. If we are heading somewhere we check what’s in the local area and have a free visit.

If you go to Devon / Cornwall a lot it's worth it as many beach car parks are nt and otherwise extortionate. It's ok. My husband likes it but he's a snob and likes to think it's more middle class. I'm just as happy going to our many free local authority run venues. Lots of people rave about the cafes but they are always a bit shit and overpriced in my view. Many nicer places to go. They do run lots of kids activities - depends how many times your children want to go on a "treasure" hunt I guess.

It's not just visiting places though, it's donating to a charity that does masses to protect our heritage, countryside and coast. No regrets at all.

We have NT and EH. Love them. I'd pay the membership for Powis Castle and Rievaulx Abbey alone

I've had membership for years now, there's not much local to me but I use it on holiday, and love being able to just pop into places for an hour to break a journey without paying the full price.

I don't know if I get my money's worth every year, but it's a good cause, so I don't mind.

@CottonSock

It's not just visiting places though, it's donating to a charity that does masses to protect our heritage, countryside and coast. No regrets at all.

This. The thought of new houses being constantly built on swathes of our most beautiful countryside keeps me contributing.

Love ours. We've had it for years and more than make our money back every year.

I’m in the SE with lots of properties in 40mins of me. We originally got membership when DD was small for something to do with her at weekends beyond the local park, and we made full use of all the trails and special events. She’s too old for those things now, but we’ve subsequently got a dog so we use it mostly for dog walking these days.

To be honest if I didn’t have the dog I probably wouldn’t use it much. We don’t tend to holiday in the UK and I’ve been to all my local properties so many times I could probably lead guided tours .

I had it for 3 years. I used it a lot on year 1, a bit in year 2 when on holiday then cancelled in year 3. Mainly because I like going to new places so we switched to merlin passes and this year we have rhs garden membership. I think it depends on what's near you and how often you will use. It is great if you make sure you visit places and it does a lot of good (if you like heritage and nature anyway)

We had membership as a present one Christmas but didn't get enough use out of it to pay for it ourselves.
We live within walking distance to one and go to the free grounds and sneak in to the cafe or just pay for the garden bit.

How old are your kids? The one closest to us does good kids' trails - so we do the pumpkin hunt and the Easter egg trail, and then a Christmas lights trail at one a little bit further. We also like going for walks there with the kids - our closest one has an excellent park with paved trails, so it's a lovely place to take kids cycling / scooting with no worry about cars.

@memberofseven I'm intrigued to know where you are that has lots of free local authority run venues, we have one small park in the town and that's it....

Some good NT sites in North Yorkshire if you're able to drive? Fountains abbey alone is a marvellous site.

We always have NT membership and use it instead of service stations on long journeys. Particularly good when the kids were small, lots of interesting things to see and space to run around.
Also good for days out on U.K. holidays, and when we’re visiting family on the other side of the country.

We use it all the time, both locally and when on holiday.

Following! Also in the north east and I've looked but cragside and gibside are the nearest places to us and neither is that close, maybe 45 mins - hour away. Cant decide if it's worth it or not.

We always have NT membership and use it instead of service stations on long journeys. Particularly good when the kids were small, lots of interesting things to see and space to run around.

Omg why do we not do that???? Genius!!!! Thank you x