English heritage or national trust?

[Wellthisiscrapeh]

Dh and dd birthday are on the same day, this year PIL want to get us all something we can use and have offered a national trust or English heritage yearly pass so we can have some cheap days out.

I’ve got so much horrible stuff going on at the moment, I just can’t think, which do people think are better?

We are in the West Midlands, (Black country) and have a car.

Thank you.

Google how many places are near you. We are NT members as we only have one EH place vaguely near us.

National Trust, we’ve had it for years and still use it regularly.

Also if you are close to the Welsh border EH membership only gets you half price Cadw entry for your first year so you won’t get into their properties for free, whereas NT is valid all over the U.K.

The EH sites were a bit further and from what I remember some only opened April to Oct or something like that.

I don’t know your area but we have both and we definitely use National Trust more. We live in Dorset and it’s useful here just for the free parking. All their sites are on their websites so have a look at what is nearby.

Go online and see what’s local to you, we found National Trust had more local to us, we used our membership a lot when our children were little. We also built in visits to places if we were going on holiday to break up the journey.

You've got to check the websites really - we have loads more EH things round here than NT whereas where we used to live it was more NT than EH. Some bits of the country have loads of NT car parks as well which can make a difference.

Definitely echo what’s local to you and also if you have any uk holidays planned what’s local to there.

Whichever there is more of near you.

They are both good but where we live there is only one National Trust place for miles so it would be a waste of money - just have a look on the maps on their websites and see which looks better in your area.

Have you hit a dog? More NT places allow gods than EH.

For me, National Trust is better because there are more properties near me. I have both, because I used my Tesco Clubcard points to get English Heritage membership, so that’s a cheap way to get English heritage Membership as well. I’ve struggled to find English heritage properties near me that charge admittance, and their entrance prices have been cheaper than entrance to National Trust. It’s worth checking the websites and seeing which are your closest properties.

E.g. this is Midlands national trust:

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/days-out/regionmidlands/national-trust-in-the-midlands

Quite a lot of these are outdoor sites rather than traditional "big house" type places.

The EH ones are here:

www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/#?page=1&place=&mp=false&fe=false

Fewer in number I think but some interesting looking places still

I like the free parking with national trust in beauty spots. We visit the Lake District every year and it saves us a fortune in parking.

You’ve got some nice NTs around - Dudmaston, Wightwick, Kinver, Moseley Old Hall, and then quite a few down into Worcestershire, across towards Telford, or up into Staffordshire.

I’m not sure what the EH places around are like, though I’m not terribly far away in the Midlands and have never been to one!

@nearlyspringyay

Have you hit a dog? More NT places allow gods than EH.

Wow this thread took a turn 😂 what a typo!

But yes, check what you have close by! We have NT and use it regularly, like PP said some EH are only open April-October.

NT - there are a lot near Bridgnorth and Kidderminster, also one in droitwich and one near malvern, you have kinver edge rock houses and also it will give you free parking at Clent. Hope this helps

NT places round my way are also bigger and seem to have more going on like events, cafe, play parks so as a family with young child we get more out of it.

We like NT, partly because of what is nearby, but also it gives you free use of all NT car parks - often in popular beauty spots (they own a lot if countryside and coast, not just houses). Also it's very useful when on long drives - there is often somewhere nearby where you can stop for lunch - again free parking, no entry fee, space for DCs to run round, often a play area, lots of picnic spots and good cake 😆.

We got EH once when holidaying on the isle of wight as there were lots there.

Also Long Mynd carparks are NT if you're near there and interested.

Holidays wise Devon and Cornwall have a fair few beach car parks that are free with NT membership, plus Lake District and some others.

Well, it depends… what do you prefer to visit? Ruined castles or stately homes? If the former, English Heritage, if the latter National Trust.

Personally, with children I would go for the National Trust just because of the play areas are great while almost inexistent in EH sites.

I'm NT/Dh is EH. EH allows you to take kids in for free on your membership. NT doesn't. NT parking rules have changed in some places so that non-members still have to pay to access it even if driver is a member.

I think NT we have been members for years .Good value and more properties generally. Have a browse .

We visit our local NT place regularly, nice walks & Tea rooms.
However when on holiday in the UK we use the EH more, especially castles in Wales.

@nearlyspringyay

Have you hit a dog? More NT places allow gods than EH.

Well that will teach me to put my lenses in before typing!

NT. We used to have EH as well when we lived in North Yorkshire as there were lots of both, but around here I can't think of any EH sites.

We have had both but near our house its only NT properties apart from one castle ruin which is free anyhow.

With the HE gift membership you can activate anytime so we holidayed near lots of places and used it then.