The leaked report ‘Toward a 10-year vision for places and experiences’ sets out a strategy of showing fewer house interiors to the public, using houses for more varied activities and encouraging visitors towards outdoor spaces. Changes have already been proposed or implemented at some houses.

Volunteers reacted with dismay to proposals to turn Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire, the former home of the Massingberd family, into holiday accommodation and a tea room. One volunteer told the Market Rasen Mail: “The proposal goes against everything the National Trust stands for. Not only that, it is obverse to the main tenet of the trust being for ‘everyone and forever’.”

Another volunteer said, ‘Both volunteers and staff have worked hard since 2012 when it ceased to be tenanted and became open to the general public throughout the week. It has served this part of Lincolnshire well.’ She added that the house has also helped to recruit members for the National Trust in Lincolnshire. 

The National Trust responded that the proposals aim to address the financial shortfall suffered by the charity by cutting costs and increasing revenue, and are still subject to consultation. They added: “One proposal includes an afternoon tea offer as part of the house experience at Gunby Hall, Estate and Gardens, with longer term thoughts around potentially repurposing areas of the hall into holiday accommodation. Since re-opening after lockdown, Gunby has seen a huge uplift in visitors wanting to explore the land, outdoors and nature that the gardens and wider estate has to offer. In response, we will be expanding our outdoor visitor-led offer for all visitors, walkers and families alike.”

The National Trust has also announced that Shute Barton, a medieval manor house in Devon, which has been open to the public for four weekends a year, will become a holiday rental property permanently.

Over the years, the open weekends have brought significant benefits to the community. The nearby 13th-century church, St Michael's Shute, provided tea and cake to visitors, raising much needed funds for its upkeep. Local people have expressed concerns that the future of the church may be put at risk by the loss of this revenue. The opening of Shute Barton also contributed to community life in other ways. Local volunteers acted as guides, and the local primary school took part in open days.

Three other properties in Devon, Overbecks, a house and garden alongside the Salcombe Estuary, A La Ronde, an 18th century 16-sided house in Exmouth and Loughwood Meeting House in East Devon, one of Britain’s earliest surviving Baptist meeting houses, will only be open to visitors who have booked in advance.

At the Round House on Kymin Hill above Monmouth in Wales, a belvedere in a historic picturesque landscape, two custodians who lived in a tied cottage on the site have been made redundant and there has been a proposal to let the landscape ‘go wild’. Local people are alarmed by the developments.

The National Trust website states: ‘We celebrated a grand re-opening of the newly restored Naval Temple on 1 August 2012, exactly 211 years after its official opening on 1 August 1801, and will continue to preserve this unique monument forever, for everyone.’ The Gardens Trust commented, ‘the thought that this important landscape and its unique buildings might instead now be abandoned is shocking.’

Sign the petition against the proposed closing of Shute Barton here.