National trust membership is it a class thing

[candaby653]

Ok so I have never thought about national trust membership being a class thing. I thought of it as a normal thing lots of families have.

However I heard someone in a cafe having a rant about someone they knew, "they have every middle class status symbol right down to the national trust sticker on the Audi"

Is this how people see national trust!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER Morden Park is a rare one I can actually get too because it has good public transport links. I get the tram.
Haven't been for ages. Is the secondhand book shop still there?

We’re members and despite their not having many properties in S Wales (a few but not loads) we have family in Devon so it’s handy when we go South West, on the journey as well as down there.
We also walk and run and use beaches etc and the parking is useful plus we completely support their preservation of coastline, countryside and habitats. In fact I am much more in favour of this “green” side than in the stately homes. I appreciate that preserving them is important for cultural heritage and maintaining and teaching skills, but … as someone who grew up WC I’ve always been slightly appalled at the sheer difference between the erstwhile owners of those properties and their staff/ villagers/ poor people in general. It’s shocking. I’ve therefore thought that it should be important for WC people to visit these places because they’re.. instructive. In the same way visiting Versailles is instructive. I am republican in my views… and hate the class system… and see that it is embedded everywhere in Britain.

Lots to learn from NT membership. To be fair they are doing lots of work in that direction too.

I’m firmly middle class and we have a membership.

We are rural. Couldn’t get anywhere without a car anyway so that doesn’t matter. We have a huge NT place 10 minutes away. We walk the dog there regularly so probably get most of our membership money back on parking. It’s a stunning walk too - a beautiful woodland (full of bluebells in spring) along a river with some great trees to scramble up for the kids. Sometimes go round the house but mostly just use the grounds. Loads of cycle trails there so DH and the kids often do that. When the kids were little I’d often use their playground and as an extra treat get a hot chocolate in the cafe.
Plus a fair bit of coastal parking round us.

Then loads of coastal parking where y parents live so we use that every time we visit them.

And on the way to my parents, there’s an NT place just off the M4. We stop there instead of services. Grab a drink, use the loo, give the dogs a brief leg stretch in the grounds. The food isn’t massively cheap but neither is it in a service station.

All in all, we get value for money.

It's one of the few things that has a cheaper family membership for single parents - definitely worth it if you go quite often (though of course you end up spending on obligatory cake in the cafe).

It is a class thing, but I think more what you were brought up with so consider normal, rather than for financial reasons. Like the Peak District v Dubai analogy a pp mentioned.

i had a single person membership one year (bought as a gift that I hadn’t asked for or hinted at). There is nowhere particularly near me so it got used once when a car driver took me (so it cost me a fortune to pay for other people to walk around an old fancy House that they didn’t really care about in the first place). The only other people there were definitely middle class. Gift purchases should come with a disclaimer that it’s only really useful if you have a car. Total waste of money (and i love getting out in nature/visiting museums etc).

cpphelp it depends where you are in Hampshire. During Covid, and on weekdays, Uppark seemed/seems to be full of small people rolling down the banks. South Harting NT carpark is also nearby.

😂 yes, I’m very middle class and it’s definitely an accurate stereotype around here.

It’s funny though because it shouldn’t be so MC. We have it because I’m super cheap about days out. It’s actually one of the most affordable paid days out you can find. It’s £12 a month. We go usually twice a month. So works out to £1.50 per person. The local soft play is £8.50 per person and it gives me a bloody headache.

I don’t think anyone’s suggesting it’s an inevitable part of being WC, but speaking for my own poor WC childhood, it would no more have occurred to my parents to spend money taking us to a stately home than it would have occurred to them to burn pound notes.

I saved £20 parking our horsebox at formby beach last year with my membership

Yes I'd say it is middle class. I had a membership while I could afford it but it was one of the first things to go when my live imploded and I became poor

Think it depends on how you often you are likely to visit and therefore get value. I am working class and have membership because there are several places nearby with farms and playgrounds etc and it is cheaper and nicer (and a whole day out) compared to other child frequented places. Plus we usually holiday in UK and lots of beach places are NT

Are you sure you're actually working class?.... rather than simply proud of having a working class background and determined to keep your non "Home Counties" accents, because that's pretty much the most middle class thing I've seen on this thread!

@Sonora25

It’s not a class thing, it depends on your values and interests

But values and interests define class, not money! NT is very well aligned with middle class values and interests.

Ilovelurchers

It can easily cost a lot if you choose to go to the gift shop and have lunch in the cafe. I don't think the day is any worse by not having an overpriced but very nice scone.

I think what I find insulting is the weird mix of assumptions that either working class people don't have the ability to spend anything on family days out, or that they're not able to afford a nice day at a national trust property (but the same people wouldn't question whether working class families can go to a children's indoor play place because if they were honest they think that those sort of activities are fine for working class families). It has weird patronising vibes to me like "ooh those poor working class people can't afford to do naice stuff".

Like PP mentioned it can be a good way of keeping multiple children entertained at a reasonable price. £10-15 a month isn't that much and could easily be spent on one morning at soft play.

National Trust places are concentrated in certain areas. Where we are there are about 4 places that are a day trip away, there is nowhere very close. We have paid for the entry gee to all places over the year. But we would never go there just to walk around the grounds and use the playground. There are lots of free places much closer where we can do that.
On MN most people say they go to NT to walk the dog, and use the playground. So it is a way of avoiding poorer people at the free places that offer exactly the same.

We have life membership for both NT and English heritage. but our inlaws bought them for us as wedding and then 1st year anniversary gifts. MIL grew up working class and FIL prob middle class. I'd say we are middle class. we drive an Audi but haven't got any stickers on it 😂 (it is also 14 years old!) We use the NT one a lot, have quite a few properties locally and as pp said mostly use them for a walk and/or a park for the kids. when we road trip we stop off at NT sites for picnics and a run around for the kids.

I think working class tend to want there kids to have more fun than traipsing round an old manor house and gardens, having cake and tea in a room full of stuffy oldies isn't exactly exciting for a child.
Beach, swimming, football, fairgrounds, bbqs, big family picnics, bouncy castles, trampolines, piers and amusement arcades - the kids love it.
National Trust is fine for parents to push their babies and toddlers around and older teens to gen up on history and culture - boring as hell for 5-15 year olds.

Our closest country park is free and has a bigger playground than the NY places further away.

We were a working class family and had a membership, we probably sacrificed other things for it but I was too young to realise/care. Maybe generally speaking you're right but obviously some of us povvos like nice things too

The rabble..?! 🤬

It was set up by three Victorians on a crusade to improve public health (and general spiritual satisfaction) by allowing very poor people access to the countryside to admire Nature and breathe fresh air, etc. They each also did other related activities along the same lines - for example Octavia Hill also worked in the social housing sector trying to improve slum housing, campaigned to preserve open green spaces in central London and organised the modern Army Cadets (to keep young men out of trouble).

Nowadays it is definitely middle class though!

I don't care what people think. I'm working class and a happy NT member.

Yes National Trust is for middle class and Merlin is for working class. Of course anyone can go to Cliveden or Chessington World of Adventures but there’s not much overlap between the clientele (that I could see, anyway) and that’s ok, different people like different things.

Its because if you are poorer like my family you manage your money carefully. So you do not pay for things you can get free elsewhere. Whereas the middle class will happily pay 15 pounds a month, for what is available elsewhere free.
With a Merlin Pass, most people just buy one off tickets for the places it covers. But you only have to have 3 visits of some of the more expensive places in the year to pay for a yearly pass. So if you are holidaying in the UK rather than abroad it can save a lot of money. And there are always offers and discounts knocking about for the pass.

We got gifted a membership two years in a row by the in-laws and as much as we enjoyed visiting the sites, mainly for the kids to run around, it did feel very middle-class and stuffy to me. I just did not feel like I fitted in with the type of people that tend to go and I would never pay for it out of my own pocket. Much prefer free walks in the woods.