About Us

“The National Trust shall be established for the purposes of promoting the permanent preservation for the benefit of the nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest and as regards lands for the preservation (so far as practicable) of their natural aspect features and animal and plant life.” National Trust Act 1907, Section, 4.1

Restore Trust is a forum where supporters and friends of the National Trust can come together to discuss their concerns about the future of the charity, and lobby for change. The past couple of years have been difficult and the National Trust needs the support of its members now more than ever.

We want the National Trust’s focus and priorities not to be driven by modish, divisive ideologies but rather solely by its noble mandate (click here for the National Trust Acts). Guided by diverse expertise and scholarship, the Trust should preserve buildings, interiors, artefacts, gardens and countryside, whilst making these places accessible to all. With our help, it will reclaim its mission, do what it does best, and go from strength to strength.

We are politically independent. The people who support us and help us in our campaign come from across the political spectrum and are diverse both in their backgrounds and their points of view.

By listening to each other we will be able to help the Trust’s leadership to focus on a vision that unites us all.

‘Beauty matters. It is not just a subjective thing but a universal need of human beings.

If we ignore this need we find ourselves in a spiritual desert.’

Sir Roger Scruton

Our Aims

  • To return to the National Trust’s founding purpose to protect and preserve historic and cultural treasures.

    To help the Trust to look after these important collections to the highest standard, supported by the best curatorial and conservation expertise.

  • To restore a sense of welcome for all visitors without demonizing anyone's history or heritage.

    To present history responsibly and use it as a tool for understanding, not as a revisionistic weapon.

  • To restore the aesthetic experience at Trust properties so that visitors can peacefully enjoy them visually and spatially, without imbalanced interpretation.

    Beauty is not frivolous; it is life-enhancing. We need to experience it, learn about it, and foster it. The Trust has played a vital part in making beauty part of the lives of millions of people.

  • To restore the confidence of staff and volunteers in the stability and competence of the National Trust.

  • To restore a distinctive sense of place for each property, focusing on the architecture, collections, gardens, landscape, and families who created them.

  • To restore the Trust’s original apolitical ethos, in the presentation and management of all its properties, and to support the charity in doing what it does best.