I have a life membership. Happy to see different places and hear different histories and am happy to have preconceptions challenged, but increasingly I find the world (Guardian, BBC, NT, various subsidised theatres) seems to tell me what I should be thinking.
My last visit was to Kingston Lacey in Dorset. Lovely house and grounds, so met my criteria of an interesting day out. But in every room we heard about the ancestor who was gay and who repeatedly got into trouble because of his interest in young men to the extend he had to flee to Italy. Part of the House's history and an interesting example of how societal attitudes have changed. But did I need to hear this in every room, with elderly female volunteers doing the female "poor man" thing. No consideration of whether his behaviour might have tipped into modern "me too" behaviour even though there were indications of significant power imbalance in his relationships. But far more irritating was the failure to convey anything abut the life of the sister who he left behind to run the house. She was largely invisible in her support-the-man's-vision role, despite she was in charge for decades.
The trouble with highlighting very specific parts of history is that you miss the broader picture and context. It becomes very black and white, when life, either then or now, is nuanced.
My bigger argument with the NT, and why I am a member of the Restore Trust, is that it has become very corporate and lost links with the communities where their properties are located. I have heard first hand stories of estate workers losing their homes in expensive parts of the country so that the tied cottages can become holiday lets. Or a family who had run a popular cafe for decades losing their contract to an expensive chain. Even at a fundamental level the NT cafes are very corporate and no longer have quirky menu items from the local area. Gift shops too. They used to be a place where you could find local jewellery and jams.
I appreciate some will prioritise staff wearing rainbow lanyards and focussing on issues of the day. However part of the learning from seeing a house through history is to learn that things come in waves. Preoccupations of the present will evolve and change. I for one would prefer a lighter touch and more chance to consider and think for myself. (A bit like this thread, which seems at times to suggest that support for Restore Trust means support for slavery. We have seen that sort of simplistic argument in other areas.)