The National Trust is the biggest conservation charity in Europe, and we are two of the 5.38 million members. Founded in 1884/1895 by Octavia Hill, the organisation cares for more than 500 historic properties, miles of coastline and many acres of farmland. There is a big professional organisation - management, conservation specialists, commercial stuff within it, but mainly when you visit, it’s mostly volunteers that you meet, guiding you round, doing the gardens, working in the cafes and making the scones (quite famous in their own right).
You have to bear in mind that the National Trust get given buildings in all states of repair or distress. But they make the most of what they find and there is always something of interest - whether it’s a grand estate like Gibside or it’s a domestic tenement flat in Glasgow. Seaton Delaval Hall, for example, is a burned out ruin, but it’s a Vanburgh burned out ruin.
There is a fair bit of woke/anti-woke flapdoodle going on around the National Trust at the moment from various old buffers, but ignore all that and just go and admire the work that all these people do in keeping heritage alive and in good order.
If you are going to do a number of NT or NTS properties I recommend joining, it’s good value (especially being a Scottish member), and it raises a gentle middle finger to the complaining old buffers.
Anyway, these are some of the ones we have gone to recently. I have tended to draw the outbuildings rather than the main event, as they tend to get ignored, although they contribute so much to the scheme of things. So, here they are:
1. Preston Mill, East Linton
If Hobbits actually had houses, they would look like this. If Gibside represents one end of the NT size spectrum, Preston Mill, in the village of East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland, represents the opposite end. Again it is a Category A Listed building. The mill dates from 18th Century and was in use producing oatmeal until 1959. The River Tyne still powers the waterwheel and the machinery still works. There is a kiln, a mill, a store and the miller’s house, all set in open countryside. Everything is slightly wonky, and is loved by artists and photographers, so especially worth a visit if that’s your thing. No cafe, but the volunteers are empowered to sell you an ice cream.
2. Branklyn Gardens, Perth
Branklyn Garden, just across the River Tay from Perth City Centre, is one of my favourites. It’s a tiny garden, just two acres in all, backed right up on to the edge of the busy Dundee Road (you can hear the traffic but you can’t see it). This was a wee suburban garden established in 1922 by keen plants-people John and Dorothy Renton. Their house is now part NTS holiday let, part cafe. The tennis court was ripped out to make the rockery and the garden stuffed with over 3,500 species of plants.
There is something to see here most of the year, but for me, the cafe is a treat; just to come and sit in the garden with a cup of tea and a homemade scone is a genuine pleasure.
3. Holmwood, Glasgow
When people talk about “Scotland’s Greatest Architect” they usually mean either Mackintosh or Alexander “Greek” Thomson. I regard Thomson as having a greater claim to the title, not least because his buildings don’t burn down (twice in the case of Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art). There is quite a lot of Thomson’s work still going in Glasgow. Holmwood is his best, most complete and original villa, situated in Glasgow’s Southside area of the city. Built in 1868, it is again Category A Listed. That’s not to say it is beautifully preserved, it’s last owner was a Catholic girl’s school who considered that Thomson’s internal decoration, featuring nude figures in Greek mythology, was far too fruity for delicate ladies, so they covered the entire house in a coat of magnolia emulsion. The National Trust are doing a fine job in restoration of the original scheme, but it’s going to take some time. In the meantime much has been done, and the structure of the house remains as per Thomson so go take a look.
There is a cafe based around the servant’s areas, with seats outside.
4. Holmwood, Glasgow, The Coach House
The coach house next door is an integral part of the scheme, but is now an NTS Holiday home, so you can only see it from the outside.
5. The Tenement House, Glasgow
Glasgow is famous for its Victorian sandstone tenements. The word Tenement denotes run down, grotty housing that should be demolished, but back in the day these were very respectable addresses. Imagine long blocks of three or four storey apartments, one central entrance per block with a staircase winding up, one apartment to the left and one to the right on each floor. Most had a hall, a living room, one or two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom, plus a box room (or area off the kitchen for a maid). There was a small garden to the front (usually assigned to the owner on the ground floor), and a drying green at the back.
The Tenement House is typical. It was owned by Miss Agnes Toward, a typist, who lived on the first floor from 1911 until 1965, never modernised the place, and never threw anything away either. Now it is a little time capsule, made more so because as soon as you step back out the front, the modern world in the form of a sixties traffic scheme takes back over. Many of these apartments are becoming tres chic, all knocked through and designer kitchens, it’s nice to see how they originally looked.
6. Mount Grace Priory, Thirsk
Thirsk is a lovely place in general, with a proper market square, an excellent art gallery, and even a historic Wetherpoons pub in the corner of the square. Just north of the town is Mount Grace Priory, the home of monks of the Carthusian Order from 1398. A total of 23 monks and a Prior lived in comfort here, each with their own little house and garden.
As with most monasteries Mount Grace was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. Once again the Priory is Grade 1 Listed.
The gardens are particularly nice; a recent design by Chris Beardshaw, with a cottage garden, a small pond, terraces and a larger wildlife pond. The cafe is also worth a visit, with lots of space and the seats arranged in an orchard.
7. Ormesby Hall, Middlesbrough, The Stable
Middlesbrough is not the first place you think of when it comes to stately homes, and indeed there is a tower block within sight of Ormesby’s front door. However it’s something of a rural idyll, with sheep grazing each side of the drive and gardens surrounding the house. The house was the home of the Pennyman family and was built in the 1740’s. It stills feels like a (posh) family home, and the rooms are filled with photographs and stories of ‘wicked’ Sir James, the 6th Baronet. There is even a working model railway in one of the rooms.
I have drawn the stables, built in 1770, and Grade 1 Listed (as is the house itself), for Sir James, who, amongst his ‘vices’ enjoyed a bit of horse racing and gambling. This was once the home of the ‘Cleveland Police Mounted Section’. Once again there is a nice cafe, which wanders out into the grounds, and you can hear the sound of children playing.
8. Gibside Chapel, Gibside, Rowlands Gill
We are back down in England, in Tyne and Wear. We have here a gentleman’s country estate, It belonged to the Bowes-Lyon family, something to do with the Royal Family and the late Queen Mother. The house itself is a ruin and fenced off. The family also owned the castle that is now The Bowes Museum, to the south, so most of the family treasures ended up there. No matter! You are here to visit the 350 acres of grounds, created in the 18th Century; there is a circular/Octagon pond, a ruined orangery and a ‘Column to Liberty’. The highlights are the perfect Palladian chapel, designed by James Paine and completed in 1812, it is still in use; and the Avenue, the fabulous half mile long approach to it. Pretty much everything at Gibside has some kind of Listing (the Chapel itself is Grade 1 and even the stables are Grade II*). There is a nice cafe in the walled garden, and they also do a mean pizza. The Chapel is the obvious thing to draw at Gibside.
9. Hill House, Helensburgh, The Lodge and Gardener’s Cottage
This is the work of “Scotland’s Greatest Architect” Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Built in 1902 for the Glasgow-based publisher Walter Blackie, and finished in 1904. A Category A Listed building. A bit like a cross between a baronial castle and Arts and Crafts. It is all very stylish, especially inside, which is what makes it worth the visit.
The only problem was that Mackintosh - in my humble opinion - is a long way from “Scotland’s Greatest Architect, and the building is full of flaws. The biggest one, and the current problem, is that Hill House overlooks the Clyde Coast which is beautiful but very wet and windy. Mackintosh decided to dispense with the usual local advice, and clad the entire house in a kind of waterproof render; the water got in but couldn’t get out, and damp and general grottiness took over. The solution has been to protect the whole building under a whole shed of chainmail, so that the wind and rain no longer get in and it dries out gently over the next ten years. It’s an interesting solution and worth a visit on its own, with the benefit that walkways allow you to see the building at roof level. Importantly, there was space to put a decent cafe in. I have drawn the Lodge, mainly because it is the one thing not covered in chainmail.
10. Wallington Hall, Northumberland, The Owl House
Wallington Hall is up north, near Morpeth in Northumberland, and is prime dog walking country. It was one of the first buildings (and estate) to be donated as a whole to the National Trust, by Sir James Philips Trevelyan, a leading member of the Liberal and Labour Governments of the 1920’s, who was something of a fan of the NT.
The house is in the Palladian style, by architect Daniel Garret, who also did a lot of Gibside, and is Grade 1 Listed. In the central roofed courtyard of the house are eight murals depicting the history of Northumberland by William Bell Scott.
The house is approached through a grand clock tower gate into the stable, where you will find the inevitable cafe and kids playing on the grass. There is a mountain bike/cycling concession in the corner, because Wallington really is about the 100 acre estate. There is a walled garden (where you will find the Owl House, apparently designed by Capability Brown, and is my drawing). More of the estate is being turned into a wildlife area, there are beavers somewhere in the estate, and the associated farms are managed for environmental benefit. A few years ago everyone’s favourite nice proper farmer cum TV presenter (ie not Jeremy Clarkson) did a series based at Wallington, so you can get an idea of the Hall and the area around it.
11. House of Dun, Montrose, Stable Entrance
The House of Dun lies round the back of Montrose Basin, in Angus, Scotland. Although a relatively small, narrow country gentleman’s house - only two rooms deep - its importance lies in the fact that its designer was William Adam, and contains some fine interiors. The house dates from 1730 and is of course Category A Listed. Just before the National Trust for Scotland got it, it had been run as a B & B, which must have been grand for the guests (although a little interesting as there is no running water in the house). There are some giant Sequoia trees in the rear garden, from the original seed introduction, which are pretty spectacular. Our visit was enlivened by the four-ship of American F15 fighter jets which passed low overhead. There is a cafe by the stable entrance, which is my drawing. By the way, the tour itself is very good, Mr Young comes along dressed as the estate manager, he is worth the admission fee on his own.