English Heritage vs National Trust

[sezamcgregor]

I have been looking at information to join English Heritage for "free" days out this summer, but I'm confused about whether English Heritage and National Trust are in any way compatible or if I'd have to "join" both to get free or discounted entry to both kinds of places?

Such a pain as I thought that I was onto a winner and then saw that half of the places that I've planned to go are EH and the other half is NT!

English Heritage and the Natu

Sorry . English Heritage and the national Trust are two different organisations so you would need to join both. There are some places where you can get in free with both of them (Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire is one of them) but that is an exception rather than a rule.

It is worth looking to see which properties are closest to you. We have been national trust members for years. We looked at joining English heritage but it wouldn't really be worth it for us as there aren't many English heritage properties close by, and the closest are free entry anyway. We have also had membership to Historical houses which is an association of privately owned houses, so if you don't mind supporting the rich, it is worth a look. Places like Blenheim Palace, Highclere and Bowood.

Thanks, that's really helpful.

I can't really afford to join both now, so will just go with English Heritage as they have lots of the castles on my list for this year.

We get free entry to both EH and NT through DH's work, but we barely go to any NT ones! Loads of great EH castles/houses around us (Yorkshire) and they do great kids activities in the holidays at a lot of the bigger places too.

sometimes membership of one gets you access or discount to another's property (Hardwick Hall is an example). NT sometimes do special offers for free family days so maybe you could take advantage of that . EH are better for free themed days and activities