To ask if you went to NT properties as a child...

[LisaJool]

And if you think they made a difference to you?
Went to my first NT stately home today, and judging by admission prices I can see why NT is often trotted out on MN as being very middle class. Forty minute house tour which was great (for me), but not convinced it would be enjoyable for young children.
The grounds, whilst vast, weren't much better than (free) parks and there was no play equipment, so again, not sure it's a great thing for dc to look forward to. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, a lot of the other visitors were mums with several dc, and I sort of wondered what the appeal was? Why would you pay to walk around a park when you can go to a free park that offers better facilities?
I do realize the memberships work out much cheaper, but still I'm rather perplexed about the appeal. Is being a NT member a status thing?

Most people who go to national trust are members.

Need to add the disclaimer that this is not a dig at NT, I'm just genuinely intrigued. For transparency I paid £10 for disabled ds' membership, which will allow him to have 2 adults in for free.

I have lots of fond memories of going. I liked looking at the grand houses, playing in the gardens, never noticed a lack of play of equipment as an impediment. I guess it's like visiting anywhere historical, I suspect that children who need to constantly be 'entertained' might struggle but for the average child with a normal level of interest and curiosity about the world around them they are rather nice. Some are better than others of course, I was never a fan of castles but I can see what others would find interesting.

Family membership is £13 a month or thereabouts so pretty cheap compared to a lot of other memberships. One of our local ones has the most amazing play area, way better than any free park. It is also good if you go away in this country you can explore different places, and they also own a lot of beaches so in summer just the free parking covers the membership.

I used to be taken as a child…. I can’t say it did much for me…

Tbh I think it was something my parents wanted to do, that sort of vaguely accommodated us.

I suppose actually it was a compromise for all parties? They would probably have rather gone alone, we’d probably have rather gone to laser quest/the cinema/a theme park/swimming etc!

Back in the day ( I haven’t been for ages ) but stately homes were steeped in ghostly history and I enjoyed the spookiness of it. Also the art and architecture appealed because I’ve always been fascinated with that ( my career went that way too) and my own house could be from centuries ago with my decor ( even though it’s small). My brother loved the armour and weapons on display and the slightly macabre stuffed animals and stuff.
but I don’t think my own kids would consider it a fun day out , my little boy especially likes physical adventures so places like hobbledown and the zoos with adventure playgrounds are where I go to be mugged in the name of entertainment and parenting.

I'd never been when I was a child. We have memberships now, which my mum gifts to me (with a discount as she is a volunteer). My local one is beautiful if I want a mooch with the babies in the pushchair but also have just updated their playgrounds and they're genuinely very good ones. My DD and nieces/nephews almost all will happily go to NTs but are happiest running around in a big gang. It helps that my family are all members.
There is definitely a time limit on children liking them, and you do occasionally see some poor teenager being dragged round unwillingly. We'll keep going with the memberships until the children protest that it's boring then we'll stop. For now, mine loves it for a stomp on her wellies and a play in the park.
FWIW I would never pay for a one-off. It's only worth it because we go lots (almost weekly) and because we also have some beach car parks locally with are NT so it's good for that too.

I didn't as a child. We didn't go anywhere much really when I was young.

We do have NT membership now though and we do take the kids to NT properties fairly regularly. They're not too fussed about the houses but they've always quite liked the gardens and the games that are often set out in the grounds. We usually end of getting a cream tea or ice cream which is probably their highlight.

We go on holiday to Cornwall fairly regularly. St Michael's Mount is always good.

We also go to the Lake District where the NT free car parking is worth its weight in gold.

Part of the reason for having membership is also to support the maintenance of the NT land and buildings.

We do also ho yo lots of other non NT places. We have very varied interests and I try to get my kids to experience lots of very different activities and places.

I was bought a life membership a child and then didn’t use it at all (other than Cornwall car parks) until I had children

We pay membership as Stowe is a beautiful walk / morning out and the kids love it.
We also go to the chilli festivals, Christmas markets and days out to waddesdon manor (which has an amazing park and facilities)

Well worth the membership and it also makes NT car parks cheaper /free all over the country

The ones near us have excellent playgrounds - huge, high quality wooden equipment etc. Quite a few have things like hedge mazes, woodlands or nice well maintained walking paths.

They also often have a duck/pond lake, and then there's always a large child friendly cafe, usually inexpensive. They will usually do seasonal trails where children can tick off pumpkins they spot on a walk etc.

We get a discounted membership through a family member who works for NT.

We went to NT properties a fair bit as a child, both with parents and grandparents. I have fond memories of it. Enjoying hearing about the history, making up stories with my brothers pretending we were ‘from the olden days’ etc.

My parents have lifetime membership. Growing up we would have 5wks holidays a year usually caravaning, and we would be taken on average to 3 NT place’s per week. Plus other days out over the year.
Looking back as an adult it wasn’t that bad, and I went to some memorable places eg Issiac Newtons house, and Avebury stone circle.
but equally going to the 3rd stately home in a week did get boring!

naturally though, I’m all for my parents taking my dcs to nt places for days out!

It depends on which ones you go to on the playgrounds. We resisted for years but with kids it makes a huge difference having membership and it's a cheap day out. Some have farms, adventure playgrounds etc. We rarely bother going around the houses but do the gardens and area.
It saves us a lot of money on a day out but scottish membership is cheaper (and csn be used elsewhere!)

I didn't go as a kid, we were bones of our arse poor. My kids have been to quite a few and always really enjoy them.

My parents used to have family membership every year, we used to travel about the UK and go to loads of NT properties.

I have really find memories of Beatrix Potters house in the lakes for example....I was super into Peter Rabbit etc and we did the paid for stuff and the NT property and it was lovely.

There are loads of NT places in the North East (Cragside is super interesting) and I remember being really interested in all the fancy rooms then enjoying running about the gardens.

Loads of NT properties are really upping their game these days and building amazing play areas so maybe you just hit unlucky in your choice of property.

Yes, we did. I was interested in history (still am) so it was something I enjoyed. DH and I are members of English Heritage now (more properties in our region than NT).

Yes my dm liked stately homes, not sure if it ws NT necessarily

It depends where you go. We have 3 NT properties nearby, two with large deer parks and one with an old mill. When DC were young we used to go to one or other most weeks, often as a group.

The DC had space to run around and play, have a picnic and there was nice tea and cake afterwards.

Most have gardens and seasonal trails for a bit of variety. There are play areas, one has a farm.

They are usually much bigger than a municipal park with more of a 'day out' feel.

My parents had a membership when I was in my teens because it also gave them free parking at lots of starts of great walks. When at period properties, we tended to look around gardens more than houses- mostly because my siblings were much younger than me.

I loved it when we actually got to go into the houses!

You must have nicer free parks than round here.

We’re members because we often use a car park of theirs on holiday. So we sometimes go to a property since we’ve effectively paid for it anyway - there’s a few local to us. Particularly when the kids were little they were somewhere nice to go on a weekend that had easy parking, nice toilets, a cafe, easy walks in nice gardens, a play area, a farm section… kids enjoyed it. And best of all one of them was completely dog free. Kids would look at flowers or do the little trails and worksheets and borrow the binoculars and collect pine cones. We never actually went inside the houses, despite probably going to a property every couple of weeks or so. Now they’re older we go less often, but it’s still something they enjoy from time to time.

Surely you can’t be expected to go to playgrounds any time you leave the house though?

Many things should be done to accommodate children as generally happy children make for happy parents, but equally sometimes children need to go along with what their parent wants to do and they can learn to be creative with their entertainment.

We have a family membership and did as kids. We use them as a form of service station when traveling longer distances if there is a property at a suitable distance for a stopping point. There are toilets, they sell coffee and have big grounds for kids to run off some energy before the next leg. If it's raining at least a house tour means they get a slight leg stretch, while some are carefully preserved and a pain with kids as they can't touch anything, there are others where the inside is kids friendly too.

They also tend to do kids trails for Halloween, Christmas and Easter. My DC enjoy them and as members they are a lot cheaper than the commercial trails (this year our local one was free). Quite a few do Christmas light trails as well now, which again are very good value as a member compared to commercial ones (think the one we are going to this year is £5 per person).

I joined when my chdren were young. The membership wasnt bad for one adult and two chikdren. I jouned becaus
There was always parking, clean toilets, a nice cafe, accesible paths and most had good play areas and tge odd trail. We mainly went to the outdoor places and they were generally lovely places to be as an adult.

We went as a child. It was a fixed cost subscription that meant we could have days out at no extra cost. We used to take a thermos and a sandwich. Nice places to picnic, some of the places had servants' quarters which were always interesting and I liked the grand gardens - being told about different flowers etc.

I still like to go fairly regularly and as an adult I view it as a £6 a month charity donation with the handy benefit of being able to visit places.

We've also always used it for somewhere to stop en route to a UK holiday to break up the arrival and departure driving.