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!

We lived next to two amazing NT properties and others tended to be near to where we went away. We loved going round the buildings and the gardens, getting an ice cream at the parlour. They also have a lots of activities in the holidays for children. It’s a day out.

This is a shame, we are lucky in that there are great connection to the villages and towns surrounding our country parks and NT sites so they’re walkable. And our PT is usually dire in general! No EH here as in Wales but we do have CADW which also tends to be accessible via public transport.

This 😂

Maybe it depends on what they did when they were little! I was always taken to these places and really enjoyed it, so when I had kids I started taking them. Started as babies and still take them now.

Mine do and did all the stuff you mentioned- beach days (loads of these - we’re coastal) and soft play and swimming etc. But we go to one NT place regularly. Mostly to use the grounds. But they love the house and last time we went round it was because my 10 year old asked to. My 15 year old still enjoys going round - she spots things each time that she didn’t quite understand or notice before.

We don’t do NT houses instead of other things, it’s as well as, and both my two think it’s fun. But they both love history (thanks to horrible histories!) and like seeing it ‘for real.’ We don’t go every weekend but it is something else to throw into the mix.

We’re not unusual if the friends of my two and the kids in my school are anything to go by.

Bit dismissive to assume that no kids would find it fun.

@Kalevala

They usually pop up In HDUK if you subscribe to that - think I got 3 free passes last year - we went more than when I bought a pass for a year!

Hotukdeals?

I love everything about the National Trust.
The properties are magnificent and I like supporting conservation of social and built history and learning about human endeavours.

Natural habitats are healthily fostered for native birds and animals too.
I visit as many as I can and picnic in the grounds.
I see it as an important donation to future generations.
It's not expensive as I hardly drink, don't smoke and love to drive in the countryside with a home packed hamper.
An annual fee attracts entrance discounts.
Families with kids love the freedom of space and smelling gardens.

You can pay NT upfront, you don’t have to pay monthly.
you are definitely not poor if you have a Merlin pass for the family! If you are holidaying in the UK, you can make use of lots of NT places including beaches.
it’s apple and pears really: I wouldn’t use a Merlin Pass if you gave it to me for free.

Poor middle class children being dragged around beautiful gardens and old manor houses 😂 they have no fun at all and might even be forced to eat a scone. Call social services now!

It's quite good for kids with disabilities. Always have good disabled loos.

Car ownership and cost driving quite far for something no essential will definitely play a part.

Im MC and would love to visit a lot of NT and EH places. However I can’t drive due to sight problems. There is often no public transport access. I only know about the gardens because I grew up in a family with parents who drive.

someone above mentioned priorities compared Netflix and NT. The Netflix subscription has a lower additional cost of WiFi and a device. Those will also have multiple uses rather than the fuel or taxi to get to NT. (I know the actual car will also get you many other places but also a lot more expensive to run than a WiFi and tablet/phone).

Membership of an organisation like the National Trust, or say the Tate, is not cheap and so I expect many people on lower incomes have higher priorities.

The worst thing about the person referred to in the rant is that they have an Audi. They might be the 1% of Audi drivers who are acceptable ones, possibly, but that is doubtful.

It's middle class in that you need to have the time, money and access to use it. So that means not working shifts, having a car in most cases, having outdoor clothes and wellies for the winter etc.

It's like toddler classes beyond the age of one. They're not very expensive in themselves, but the majority of people there are middle class because you need a parent at home during the day to go to them.

Really. I thought it was BMW drivers that people hated. You learn something new every day :)

We were very middle class but my dad was too cheap to pay for membership or parking 😂

He would park at the local church and we would have to walk in - unless it was winter when they had free parking offers!

Dunno. I'm working class and wouldn't bother paying for a membership, I like visiting those kind of places but I don't have a car so they're a pain to get to.

Yes, AFAIK!

Of course you have to work out how to count the large numbers of obviously middle class people who insist they are actually working class.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER thanks. When the weather improves I might have to pay a visit.

If I were you I’d check the website first to make sure the bookshop’s open, if that’s important to you.

Seriously?? You know there are working class kids who live on estates in seaside cities who've never been to the beach right?!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I might go anyway - it's not to far from where I live and it's a nice afternoon out 🙂

We have membership now, mainly for the kids to run round the playground, but it definitely is a middle class thing. I grew up working class, and there's no way anyone in the family would/could pay £12/month to walk round a fancier version of a park.

Visiting also requires

• access to a car
• money to put fuel in the car
• outdoor clothing
• a day with no work/out of school club
• pack lunch stuff, including boxes etc
• an adult that is sober and able to priorities a day put with the kids, plan the day & make it happen.

To make the membership cost effective, you need to be confident that you will have all of the above, multiple times throughout the year. If you lack any of the above your just throwing away the £144/year.

@Sprogonthetyne some of the stuff you list is just a bit ridiculous. Outdoor clothing? If kids don’t have a coat or hat I would be seriously worried, presumably they also need that for school/daily life. You don’t need to own Hunter wellies to run around a National Trust. Same for posh lunch boxes. People have lives for decades without and wrapped Sandwiches in napkins or kitchen rolls. you can also visit without lunch for example do a walk/play from 2-4pm. A picnic is not compulsory.

A sober adult???
yes a sober adult is required for nearly all family life, I don’t know why you listed that as a criteria. What has class got to with it or are you implying more working class people have drinking issues? Not having a membership is the smallest of your issues if the parent is not sober!

what next? Children need socks?

Frankly a lot of the posters know nothing about NT and imagine it as some old stuffy country homes. When actually a membership includes a huge variety of properties, gardens, parks, beaches, museums and more. And they usually offer tons for kids, playgrounds, games, trails, etc.