The National Trust, United Kingdom

The National Trust is a charity founded in 1895.  They look after special places throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In total they own over 815,000 acres of land and are one of the biggest private land owners in the UK.  

Over the last few years I have had the fortune of visiting and staying at numerous National Trust Properties.

Scroll down to view some of the properties I have visited

I stayed at Lower Tresmorn BnB, run by the wonderful hosts Rachel & Chris Crocker, close to the beaches of Crackington Haven and overlooking the rugged and beautiful North Cornwall coast - It's a magical spot!  

This picture set, starts at Tresmorn BnB, follows the coastal footpath to Crackington Haven.

Montacute House is a 416 year old Elizabethan home built by Sir Edward Phelips, who made his fortune as a lawyer, playing a key role in one of the trials of the century - the opening statement for the prosecution against the notorious Guy Fawkes and his fellow gunpowder plotters.  The house is built from locally quarried Ham stone, and was really built to show the power and wealth of the Phelips family.  You may recognize the house if you watched BBC's production, Wolf Hall, as well as other productions such as the film 'Sense and Sensibility'.  

I stayed in the South Lodge, essentially a gate house.  Most of the pictures were taken one morning prior to the tourists arriving while the sun rose and I walked the grounds along with a local farmer attending the sheep that live in the fields surrounding the house.  This is one of the benefits of staying on site, getting to roam the grounds when no one else is around. 

For me, the most interesting feature of the house was the grand room at the top of the house on the third floor, which was used for entertaining and doing exercise.  It now houses a collection from the National Portrait Gallery.  If you have never been to the Portrait Gallery in London, I highly recommend going.   

Greenway was the holiday home of the famous and much-loved author Agatha Christie.

The house sits in the hills alongside the River Dart Estuary.   I stayed in the gardeners cottage which has an excellent view of the River Dart with the boats coming and going (You can watch a timelapse on this page of the view).  From Greenway Quay you can catch a ferry across the river to Dittisham or head out to the Tourist town of Dartmouth (photos included) .  

If I had more time I would have taken a ride on the steam train that runs alongside the River Dart and walked the public footpaths, as the views are spectacular.  For any Americans that may have interest in the Mayflower, the ship that took the first pilgrims to the United States, Dartmouth was where the Mayflower stopped to try and fix the other leaky ship, the Speedwell, before heading to Plymouth and then on a 66 day journey to their new homeland.  There is much history been made in this area, and to this day The Royal Naval College, situated in Dartmouth, trains the next generation of Sailors. 

The Helford River is an area of outstanding beauty steeped in a rich history of sailing.  The property I stayed at, close to the Helford River, is called Bosloe House.   

All the pictures below are from walks straight out of the door of Bosloe House.  They include photographs from a coastal walk to Mawnan Smith, a small parish village on the mouth of the Helford River; a coastal walk to the pub The Ferry Boat Inn, for some fine tasting food while sitting on the terrace and admiring the views of the river (you can also take a small ferry ride across to the town of Helford from here); and some shots from the beaches and coastal hills close to Glendergan Gardens, also owned by the National Trust, where the quiet is only broken by the sound of the water lapping up on the beach pebbles.  

Cotehele was the ancestral home to the Edgcumbe family, a Tudor house, perched high above the River Tamar.   The property has it's own Quay, which in the 19th century when local industries boomed they used the Quay for loading and unloading cargo.  Now, it's predominantly used by the Cotehele Quay Gig Club.

I stayed at the gardeners cottage, a short walk away from the main house, which provided a lovely stay.  After-hours, when the shop and house are closed, one is free to wander the grounds.  It's peaceful and wild.  You can take a walk along the River Tamar to the nearby village of Calstock (photos included), for a swift half and a possible train ride into Plymouth.