 houses with games.
In other words, the British people are very attached to their patrimony?
Yes, they are.
Has Downton Abbey helped?
We were already very successful before Downton Abbey.
Do you run campaigns and make publicity?
We use our campaigns to send unexpected messages. So for example last year we ran a campaign showing children engaging with the countryside and playing in mud and on beaches, because the image of the National Trust are our historic houses and our tea rooms and we want to change our image, be less stuffy perhaps.
How do you invest?
Our turnover is £500 million a year and we generally invest, from the profit we make and legacies and activities, £150 million a year on conservation and investment in our big campaigns.
And how do you decide which new properties to acquire and which properties not to take on?
When the Trust makes an acquisition, we are making a commitment to look after something for ever. In almost every case we declare the place that we’ve acquired inalienable and this means that we can never sell or mortgage it, so we take such decisions very seriously. We therefore have a set of guidelines to help us decide which acquisitions we can consider. The main criteria for taking on a place are whether that place is nationally important (outstanding for its natural beauty or natural or historic interest) and whether there is a tangible threat to its survival if the National Trust did not acquire it, but equally important are whether the property will be financially self-supporting and whether the Trust is the most appropriate owner.
October 8th, 2014.
All images ©National Trust Images.