The National Trust is a charity and is completely independent of Government. We rely for income on membership fees, donations and legacies, and revenue raised from our commercial operations.

We now have 3.4 million members and 43,000 volunteers. More than 12 million people visited our pay for entry properties in 2004, while an estimated 50 million visited our open air properties.

We protect and open to the public over 300 historic houses and gardens and 49 industrial monuments and mills.

But it doesn’t stop there. We also look after forests, woods, fens, beaches, farmland, downs, moorland, islands, archaeological remains, castles, nature reserves, villages - for ever, for everyone.