The cost of a National Trust annual pass has risen to more than £100 for the first time – as the charity struggles to hold on to its members.
Members are now paying 30 per cent more for a solo pass then they were three years ago – with the price now rising to £100.80 per year.
A joint membership for two adults has also increased from £160.80 last year to £168. Family membership, of two adults and children, climbed from £168.80 to £176.40.
It comes as members have cancelled their memberships in recent years amid claims it is pursuing a ‘woke‘ agenda – from making all of its scones secretly vegan to exposing its properties links to slavery and colonialism.
But The Trust has defended the price rises, saying it accounts for the rising costs of conservation.
A charity spokesperson said: ‘We set our prices carefully, based on what we need to fund our conservation and other work, and to account for the costs of conservation typically rising at 2-3pc above the rate of inflation.’
The cost of a National Trust annual pass has risen to £100 for the first time. Pictured: Hughenden Manor in High Wycombe
The price rise comes after a number of its members have been antagonised in rows.
Andy Jones, 71, was banned after pointing out a number of spelling mistakes on the charity’s website.
Mr Jones had been volunteering with the Trust for well over a decade, across several areas including the Woolbeding Estate and the Devil’s Punch Bowl in Surrey.
And in November 2024, he sent a dossier containing thousands of misspellings and factual errors on the charity’s website to its director, Hilary McGrady.
Typos included ‘toliets’, ‘permananat’ and the names of Pre-Raphaelite artist Lucy Madox Brown as Maddox Brown, as well as grammatical mistakes.
He spent around 400 hours, on his own initiative and hoped that the errors would be amended, but was left furious after he received no response from the CBE recipient.
Mr Jones then sent an email, which he acknowledged was inappropriate, and was banned from volunteering.
Members in Warwickshire also threatened to boycott a Grade I-listed manor house after losing free entry, despite helping to raise £3million to fix its roof.
Free visits to Coughton Court, in Warwickshire, were revoked after day-to-day management of the popular Tudor home was returned to the Throckmorton family.
The family, who have lived at Coughton Court for more than 600 years, said they had ‘no obligation’ but have offered Trust members free access on 10 days across 2026.
The change resulted in upset among Trust members who had been asked to help raise £3.3million for roof repairs.
The Trust was also accused on anti-Christian discrimination last year when it banned a Catholic from filming at St Cuthbert’s Cave in Northumberland.
Gardeners at Mottistone Manor on the Isle of Wight were also let go after managers claimed the group’s behaviour did not align with ‘inclusive culture’.
Free visits to Coughton Court, in Warwickshire, were revoked despite members raising £3 million for its restoration
The huge fall in numbers also comes as the charity faces competition from an ‘anti-woke’ rival whose numbers are soaring.
Historic Houses was founded in 1973 as an independent association and is a not-for-profit.
It has seen its membership increase by 10,000 year-on-year.
Members have access to 303 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with more historic homes than both the National Trust and English Heritage combined.
Its £68 annual membership is significantly cheaper than its rivals at £96, who increased its prices this year by nearly six per cent.
Ben Cowell, director general of Historic Houses, previously said: ‘We don’t own any of these properties so we’ve got absolutely no remit to instruct owners on what to do, and nor do we want to.
‘The whole point is that these places are independent. They are their own masters and can be run in whichever way they want and they can display things how they wish.
‘It it is our job to aid and advise them, but it is very much the owners’ choice about what to do with their houses.’
