National Trust Reviews 

Dec 24 I experienced my first national trust cottage, a small detached one on the beach on the Llyn Peninsula with my dog. 2nd one this time with Hubby & another sea view @Ravenscar near Robin Hoods Bay. 3rd one hubby & dog again at Wallington Estate near Hexham. Summer back to my first one for a full week. July, Norbury Manor for a full family get together. Late summer squeezed in edge of Snowdonia National Park & then Autumn Holy Island for more than a quick visit and finally a birthday celebration coming up at Dinefwr in South Wales.
What can I say but WOW, consistent high standards across the board. Beautiful locations with out of hours access.
I have a beautiful home in a beautiful place, I want the same experience only in a different setting when I go away especially having family members who won't fly.
However don't moan if something's not perfect by nature these are historic no uPVC windows and doors here but quirky and creaky, take some bed socks and a dressing gown for winter. Choose carefully, consider if lots of day visitor will spoil it for you, I've only gone outside of school holidays and never had a problem. The experience at some of total isolation is fabulous, no WiFi no problem do something else.
And no, money is a consideration all my holidays have had some kind of special offer either last minute or out of high season. Holy island, £100 a person for 2 nights, you can't rent a converted garage on Airbnb for that!
Ok, I'll leave it there, here's my last thought that one about you can't please all the people all the time well I'm not only pleased I'm absolutely delighted.😍

Planned a family trip to Powys castle with the family and what a waste of time. Went to go around the gardens with the dog and was greeted by a rude lady in the hut informing me the dog was not allowed to walk around in the garden until another 2 days time. The only place the dog could go was to the car park or the courtyard. As a family we had already been to the cafe and despite having to sit outside as no dogs allowed in there had spent a considerable amount of money. Rude lady in the hut had her cat with her so obviously cats maybe more welcome. Following doing laps of the courtyard and the car park in the rain left to ask at the main reception for to put in a complaint. Staff at reception were extremely rude to my daughter and elderly father and refused to take the complaint card
We live in northumberland and all the properties are dog friendly, accessible to them even the cafes. At this property there was massive signs up saying don’t tie your dog up outside the cafe or don’t leave your dogs in the car despite the property not offering any alternative. Think the trust need to look at training their staff on how to be polite to people. Would not recommend and ruined a day of our holidays

Some years ago I received,as a Christmas present, an annual pass for the NT. The year of the COVID lockdowns and the restrictions on attending anywhere public. The year expired and obviously, for safety, the pass hadn't been used. I called the NT and explained hoping they might allow it for the following year. NO absolutely not. So the Trust for the Nation is I facts a trust only for those that run it. I gave no TRUST in them. Very very poor . Just think...I may vahe visited their venues and even used their cafés.. but not now or never...

I purchased some goods from the National Trust Online shop. They arranged for delivery by Yodel. Delivery was promised 4 times and no delivery made. Contacted the NT Online shop by phone believing that they would be able to sort the matter out. No such luck. Poor response from the staff there who gave the impression that they couldn't care less, It was all too much trouble and, in the end, I accepted a refund. They apologised for the delivery fiasco but were totally useless in trying to discover why a delivery to my property seemed beyond their carrier's ability.

Everything was lovely BUT National Trust coffee is awful - absolutely tasteless. It's the same in every National Trust cafe.

It's a mornings work dozens on names loads of profiles. Members resolutions with no direct access to content. This hopeless presentation of AGM voting weighs heavily on the reputation of the Trust that we as a family used to value.
Voting in the National Trust is like picking horses in the Grand National "shut your eyes and stick a pin in "!

A wonderful service and affordable for families.

Don’t care about peoples safety! I tripped over a bit of metal sticking out the middle of the path. I reported it in person to Sheffield Park Garden and followed it up with an email with photos to the National Trust. 2 weeks later nothings been done. The man at Sheffield Park garden said he’d put a cone over it. Nothing marks it and it hasn’t been removed. I jarred my back badly. It hurt for over a week. If an old person falls down they could break something. Shocked nothings been done. If this was USA I’d sue them!

I don’t know why you’ve asked for more details. I’ve emailed you with photos and details of what happened and of my injury. TWICE! Reported in person once. You haven’t taken it seriously and have ignored me. The chopped off metal pole is STILL there2 weeks later waiting for someone else to trip over it.

Today my husband and I visited Charlecote House. We had a very pleasant afternoon. The guides were exceptionally friendly and informative, all with a smile. The restaurant served a varied menu (much better than some NT properties), with well cooked and presented food. Again, the staff were friendly and helpful. The facilities were clean and well maintained. The buggy was also clean and well maintained. But above all the house was lovely with beautiful grounds and parkland for long walks. Well worth a visit.

I took a guided tour around Corfe Castle with a tour guide by the name of Alistair and it is clear he is very passionate about his interest and sharing information to me and others on his tours. He gave out interesting information and kept the group engaged in the time we had. I enjoyed the tour immensely and learnt much more about the area by the end. I hope to see Alistair again if i was to do another tour or something similar as he made the whole experience amazing.

I joined NT this year and have visited many of the properties in the Midlands/Warwickshire/Worcestershire area. They all (with the exception of Charterhouse in Coventry) have the same issues. The Cafes are all exactly the same and the food offered is overpriced and not very nice. The pasties were hard, scones dry. Everything is pre made and just heated up. Sandwiches tasted stale and had sell by date weeks ahead. The list of ingredients for a plain sandwich shows just how much preservative has been pumped into them. They seem to be trying to attract more vegan people but forgetting those who aren’t. It would be much better if they could have freshly made food which caters for everyone. No point in having signs saying tell us about allergies when everything is pre made and cat be changed anyway

We visited National Trust property Shaw’s Corner for their Apple Orchard Day expecting a fun, family-friendly experience. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very overpriced and poorly managed.

The event advertised all sorts of apple fun, including apple tastings, with a suggested £2 donation for purchase of apples. But after sampling just a few apples, the person at the stall insisted we pay for each person who had tasted in our group — including our 5-year-old — and charged us £9.50 for doing so. This was never made clear upfront. After being caught off guard and paying the charge I watched others tasting freely without paying anything. This was unfair, and inconsistent. I had already paid for buying apples.

Later, after buying a Jellycat apple from a separate stall, we were stopped at the exit and told the payment hadn’t gone through due to a card terminal issue. We paid again in good faith. What bothered me most were staff were checking records and following up on missed payments — yet they had no issue with other staff members charging randomly for tastings, which after looking at the details again were included as part of the event.

The whole experience meant that £50 ended up being spent on what should have been a simple outing and I was charged £9.50 for something I should never have been charged for.
The orchard is lovely, but the experience with staff left us feeling fleeced.
Disappointed and wont be returning.

I’ve been to 35 properties in the last 2 years, and the staff are so friendly and helpful. I’ve never had a bad experience with them and they are always so nice and welcoming.

I was given a membership as a present - I have tried to contact someone to try and resolve this issue. I have tried to return the membership pack but this was refused once and undelivered the next time. It seems they just want to keep the money! Avoid like the plague. I have emailed the shop and customer services who told me my case was closed! I escalated to a complaint who said I would be contacted within 3 days - it is 5 days and counting and no reply. Doubly avoid - you have been warned!!

Very disappointed that the National Trust has stayed so far from its original founding objective. Far too much emphasis now on paying homage to ‘woke’ issues (such as DEI, anti slavery and the whole LGBTQ debacle). Their policy of allowing members to hand all their votes at the AGM over to the Chair with one tick of a box is unbelievably anti-democratic. Annual subscriptions have gone up far beyond the rate of inflation over the past few years. There are reports of some long standing volunteers being treated badly for not holding the ‘correct’ views. The only reason I’ve given the NT any stars at all is because, despite the issues outlined above, they have some beautiful properties which I love visiting. I just wish they would return to their original remit!

My 15 month old son and I went to Godolphin house (Cornwall) on Saturday morning. The estate is listed as open from "dusk till dawn". We arrived at ~09:45 and were exploring the grounds when a National Trust team member approached us. I was hoping to get some information about the grounds but instead I was told the site does not open till 10am. I jokingly asked if I would have to go back to the car park and was told I would! I was then told I could stay on the grounds as I am an NT member. A very strange interaction and poor customer service.

Nightmare organisation, set up a joint membership for the direct debit to bounce as it seems there is no way of knowing the date the payment should go out as no information was recieved to clarify this. On calling to try and re activate the membership I'm told I can't choose a payment date and I should re instate it today on the 26th in order for it to come out on the same time each month. Exactly what I did originally and they still take the money when they like, so unless I want to call every month to reset it up its a guessing game. As for environmentally unfriendly, each time I have to sort out the membership they waste paper bysending me a whole new pack and new cards,cards that you can add to Google wallet but can't actually scan the qr at the ticket machines.....very disappointed in the wastage of not only time but of resources, surprising as its meant to promote nature!

Rented a cottage in the Cotswolds and on arrival found the WiFi router blinking red. No Internet access and this drove the media centre. So nothing accessible on that front.
2 hours speaking to BT. NO JOY.
Emails and calls to the NT. No fix.
What we did get was a statement from the t and c to say WiFi might be intermitent. This was not intermitent it was non existent.
Promises from all never materialised.
It ruined our holiday and caused issues in our group, some international with only WiFi to keep in touch with family.
I will be asking for compensation. Watch this space.
Cannot recommend when there are other, more reliable and more accountable and responsive organisations out there.
Follow up: Contacted by the NT (took 7 - 10 days) to be told there was nothing wrong with the internet, though there was a brief mention about leads not being connected correctly. (And the BT technician told m the router was broken.) As a token, but not due to our issue - because they claimd there was none - we got a small credit ... AND A VOUCHER for a cream tea!!
Terrific response that does not take any responsibility for the issue we had. There was NO INTERNET, full stop. We are not idiots about these things. The router box was flashing red.
I cannot recommend the NT properties as they hid behind their terms and conditions and interpreted them to their advantage.
Try English Heritage cottages which we have enjoyed far more.

I recently visited a national trust property in Norfolk with my dog, I paid for parking and was given a map with the dog walks on it. I was totally disgusted to find several barbed wire fences in an area where dogs were allowed off lead. There were no warning signs which I always understood was a legal requirement. I realise having these fences is not illegal however it is unpleasant and property owners have a duty of care to visitors which I don't think National Trust is taking seriously……I will avoid their properties in future

Absolutely adore the NT. Slightly horrified to see so many negative reviews - hard to know if its politically motivated or genuine experience? We've had the pleasure of being members since 25 years old - more than a decade now.

We've always found every day out at the NT to be enjoyable. Facilities are always great, loads for the kids, cafe's have a great choice.

Yes, it's a little expensive, but I imagine maintaining dozens of grade 1 & 2 listed buildings and grounds must be too.

Couldn't recommend enough. So important for our country to hold onto this heritage and history.