Our professional staff run the properties and the wider organisation . Our governance volunteers serve on a range of groups intended to support our staff and hold them to account . Of these groups the starting point is the Board of Trustees , which agrees , plans and holds the staff to account for their delivery . The Council appoints the Board , holds it to account and debates wider issues of policy . Other groups include Board committees , expert Panels and
Regional Advisory Boards .
The National Trust is a registered charity that was founded in 1895 to preserve places of historic interest or natural beauty permanently for the nation to enjoy . It protects and opens to the public historic houses , gardens , industrial monuments & mills and looks after forests , woods , fens , farmland , moorland , nature reserves , coastlines and old villages . This meant it wasn ’ t sufficient to address the surface problems alone – the team had to work to retain and protect older layers beneath the Tudor facade .
The conservation programme started in 1988 , lasted 15 years and cost £ 10 million , with 40 per cent grant-aided funding from English Heritage and the rest from public appeal .