Breaking (National) Trust

Countryside Column for 7 November

Stealing the castle common

Open letter to Simon Jenkins, National Trust Chairman.

Dear Simon,

As head of an organisation as large as the National Trust, you may not be aware of the hugely retrograde and regrettable change of policy recently introduced at Bodiam Castle in East Sussex.

For more than half a century I have visited the castle and walked its undulating grounds gazing at the “archetypal 14th century moated castle with ruined interior - a glimpse of medieval splendour” as your publicity describes it.

I have brought countless visitors, domestic and foreign, to enjoy the surroundings and the visit to the grounds has always been free. Often they have chosen to pay for admission to the castle keep itself and cross the drawbridge marvelling at the huge carp in the moat.

No more though. Now they must each cough up a whopping £7.95 (plus £3 car parking charge) just to enter the grounds. No longer on a summer’s day can they wander, picnic, play Frisbee or feed the ducks for free.

I know admission to the keep is included in the price. But it’s cold comfort. There is precious little to do among the ruins except climb vertiginous stairs up two of the towers. 

Neither of your neighbouring properties, Sissinghurst or Scotney castles, charges for admission to their grounds. Why Bodiam?

The National Trust is a custodian of large chunks of Britain’s heritage. Of course you need sufficient income to continue your work, but I have always paid my membership on the basis the Trust exists to make those parts of the countryside you control accessible to ALL. What next? Will you fence off and charge admission to the 750 miles of our coastline that you own?

I predict you will witness a dramatic decrease in visitors to Bodiam. And that means revenue will be down in the café and the shop. You are also incurring the ire of local people who have enjoyed walking the grounds for so many years.

And please don’t say, ah but there is a public footpath through past the castle, you can still use that. All your signage strongly suggests payment is mandatory.

As an historian you will recall the old rhyme:

“The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose”

Please reverse this decision now!

Sincerely

Kent