Dear Editor,

I am so glad that you have picked up on some of the issues in the latest NT magazine.

For many years, I have been a keen walker, have led walking holidays and know many of the wonderful footpaths and long distant trails of the UK well.  I am 76 years old and have no children or grandchildren.  For 10 years, I organised Arts Society (ex NADFAS) visits to historic houses, galleries and museums.  NT properties used to feature heavily and I always organised a specialist lecture by one of the curators.  There were normally about 50 of us – mostly retired and taking advantage of our more senior years to feast on history, the arts, architecture, gardens, etc. plus indulge in delicious homemade food.  We  probably visited 5 NT properties each year.   Many of our members were volunteer guides at local NT properties and incredibly knowledgeable. 

Having just read my latest Garden magazine from the RHS and recent information updates by text from the RSPB and already a keen walker, there was not one article of interest in the latest NT magazine for our age group with a thirst for history and the arts.  Visits to English Heritage now offer far more to older and intellectually curious visitors like us.  Yes, it is important to engage the young but the NT needs to stop their properties being turned into play grounds and start teaching children and young adults about history, the arts and their heritage (warts and all - not sanitised for their delicate minds and in a non-woke manner). 

In the NT magazine, the quality of the gardening, bird and outdoor activity articles were woefully inadequate and boring compared with ones from specific organisations – e.g. methods for peat reduction in the Garden and pros and cons of different designs of bird boxes and their placement in the RSPB texts and website.

Last year we did visit Knole and it was an unexpectedly wonderful experience.  The introductory lecture was superb and the volunteers throughout the house knowledgeable and fascinating.  Afterwards, none of us could remember reading anything about the huge restoration programme and the new conservation studio in the NT magazine.  For us, this should be what the NT and its magazine is all about - preserving our heritage and learning centres for the arts and history.  We need to know what is going on in the houses, special exhibitions and the programmes that they are offering for adults.  For financial reasons, it also needs us to visit and spend our money in the cafes and shops.  Maybe there are other NT properties that we should visit but the magazine does not promote them with programmes likely to appeal to us. 

We've all been woke up enough and we cannot whitewash (oops but it is the best word!) history, it is part of learning about life in earlier years.  If Victorians/ Edwardians were living now, they would be horrified by much of our art and culture today and certainly by our clothes (or lack of them!).

When Neil MacGregor was at the British Museum, I thought he did a brilliant job engaging us with our past through his block-buster exhibitions and 'History of the World in a 100 objects' talks.  I too was very disappointed with his NT lecture.

Yours faithfully,

Prof. Elizabeth Juniper
West Sussex