A question that I get asked quite often is, is national trust worth the money. Or is a better option just to pay the entrance fees on the day. To help answer that question we need to look at what you get with a yearly membership, how much the membership costs a year. Lets start by looking what what types of membership there is and their costs.
How much National Trust membership costs
There are quite a few different levels of memberships that the National Trust offers. There are options for people of different ages, family, there is even a lifetime membership. Here are the membership options and their costs in 2022
Individual memberships
- Adult, over 26 years old. £76.80 a year, or £6.40 monthly direct debit.
- Young Person, between 18-25 years old. £38.49 a year.
- Junior, under 18 years old. £10 a year. Note: With this level you do not get free parking or the three magazines a year.
Joint Membership
- Adult, two people 18 years older living at the same address. £127.20 a year, or £10.60 monthly direct debit.
Family Membership
- Family with two adults. Two adults and their children or grandchildren. £133.80 a year or £11.15 monthly direct debit.
- Family one adult. One adult and their children or grandchildren. £83.40 a year or £6.95 monthly direct debit
Lifetime membership
- Individual. This memberships also lets you guest one person in with you. £1845, or £1380 if you are aged over 60
- Joint. Two people living at the same address. £2305 or £1730 if one of you is over 60
- Family. Two adults and the children or grandchildren, if they are under 18. £2415
What you get with National Trust membership
Here is what you get with a membership to the National Trust. First we have a list of all the properties and assets that the National Trust owns which you would get free access too.
- Over 500 houses, castles.
- Over 780 miles(1255Km) of coastline.
- Over 250,000 hectares(2,500 sq Km) of land.
- Close to 1,000,000 pieces of art.
You can park for free at the National Trust properties where there is normally a parking charge. There are some places where a small fee of around £3 for two hours to park is charged for non members. These tend to be in places such as a village or a town where it could have a chance of being used by people not visiting the National Trust property.
The National Trust magazine three times per year. It is possible to buy this is some of the shops at National Trust properties where it costs £4.95 This magazine has articles about what is currently happening in the National Trust. There are some interesting articles they have in here.
The National Trust handbook. This is quite a thick little book that lists all the National Trust properties. It gives some information of visiting the property and also a little bit of history about it.
Is National Trust worth the Money
Is National Trust worth the money? For me personally I find that National Trust membership it is worth the money. I am currently working my way through visiting all of the National Trust properties in England. Without the membership, entry and parking costs would have already been greater than what I paid for the yearly membership of the National Trust.
Current average entrance price for me is £12.92 whereas monthly membership costs £6.40 so the membership would be worth it even if you only managed to visit one property every other month. If you visited more than that the membership beings to seem like a real bargin.