Making the most of our membership

Shakespeare's Birthplace - we used our Art Passes for free entry

A while ago I wrote about how we managed to get good use out of our various heritage membership passes on our summer holiday last year.

Yesterday I thought it would be interesting to see how many times I had used all my various membership cards in 2015.

The joint 'winners' were the National Trust and the Art Pass, with 10 uses each, closely followed by English Heritage with 9 (though several of those were not for English Heritage properties as such, but a reciprocal arrangement with Manx Heritage).  The Historic Houses Association came fourth with 6. They have definitely all paid for themselves.

I only used my British Museum Friends card for a discount in their restaurant (but it was a very nice meal). I'll try to fix that this year, with a visit to the Sicily: culture and conquest exhibition.

The results in detail:

Art Pass (note that the Art Pass gives either free entry or reduced-price admission)

British Library Magna Carta exhibition

Courtauld Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery  Escher Exhibition

Harvard House

Leighton House

National Portrait Gallery William Morris Anarchy and Beauty exhibition

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Torquay Museum

Torre Abbey

National Trust

A La Ronde

Cliveden

Coleton Fishacre

Coughton Court

Great Chalfield Manor

Greenway

Hughenden Manor

Overbecks

Red House

Wordsworth House English Heritage Berry Pomeroy Castle Castle Rushen Eltham Palace House of Mannanan Kenilworth Castle Laxey Wheel Peel Castle Rushen Abbey Totnes Castle Historic Houses Association Cadhay Helmingham Milntown Mirehouse Powderham Castle Stratfield Saye

Free Entry

Unusually, this  year we have spent our main holiday in the UK, driving down to Devon to be precise. Whilst the weather may not have been perfect every day, one bonus was that it gave us an opportunity to make good use of our various memberships.

Powderham Castle 

We have membership cards for the National Trust, EnglishHeritage, the Historic Houses Association Friends scheme, the Royal Horticultural Society, the British Museum Friends scheme, the Royal Shakespeare Company and a National Art Pass.  Sometimes places we visit are in more than one scheme so there is a shuffling of cards at the entrance as we try to work out which card gives us the best deal. 

In a 9 day holiday in Devon we visited seven historic houses, two ruined castles, two museums (one of them twice), two zoos, a model village and some caves. Of these, we had free entry to the all the houses, the castles and the museums. Our National Trust (NT), English Heritage (EH), Historic Houses Association (HHA) and Art Pass  (AP) cards all came into their own.

Garden At Overbeck's

Great Chalfield Manor

Historic Houses

Great Chalfield Manor (NT) 

Greenway (NT)

Coleton Fishacre (NT)

Overbeck’s (NT)

A La Ronde (NT)

Powderham Castle (HHA)

Cadhay (HHA)

Castles

Berry Pomeroy Castle (EH)

Totnes Castle (EH)

Museums

Torquay Museum (AP)

Torre Abbey (AP)

Torre Abbey

Totnes Castle

A La Ronde

Greenway

Sci-Fi Exhibition, Torquay Museum

Coleton Fishacre

This is a win-win situation. The organisations benefit from our membership subscription and feel good about helping a good cause, we get free entry to lots of interesting places, and we can spend the money we save on admission in the tea room and shop.

A more detailed account of the trip can be found on the TravelSIG blog here.