We are members of Scottish N. T. Based in N. Ireland. There are not many National Trust properties here to provide variety so I am unlikely to get value from membership and yet the day prices are horrendous, with gift aid added and option not to pay this in the small print.
They expect people to have 5 years ordinary membership before granting concessions for age.
I cannot speak for Great Britain, but here in Northern Ireland they are infamous for taking over land and then excluding people, deceiving people into paying for entry into the Giants Causeway when access to the stones is free. Charging for the number of people in a car at the carpark rather than the car. Putting a family business off the site after they had been there for generations when their lease ran out. Google Giants Causeway to see the uproar they cause.
At least one section of a coastal path was closed by the land owner was being dictated to by the nt. Their politics also questionable, expecting volunteers to wear badges in support of ways of life which many disagree with. Disclosing the private life’s of people who donated property against the family wishes.
I expect, when visiting something historic, to see it as it was in its heyday, with regard to the way of life at that time, warts and all.
They have become typical of many large charities in being businesses whose point increasingly seems to be that they exist to pay their staff (sometimes at exorbitant salaries) and be self perpetuating and inward looking, whilst being carried by volunteers who give huge amounts of time to something they obviously get a lot of pleasure from.
Anyway I probably, here in the North East of Ireland, am regarded as UlsterScots, so SNT is more appropriate.
Davy
