historichouses.org Reviews 13

We have been members for about 7 years and the annual membership used to be an absolute bargain and we could recoup the annual fee within a couple of days of visiting 3 or more properties. Sadly the fees have increased (now about double what they were at first) and many top rate properties don't give free admission anymore (eg Highclere Castle, Chatsworth). We're still members though and when we do visit the remaining properties they feel more special than National Trust places and are always less crowded.

Sounds great, but sadly the access to the houses is very limited. The website is very difficult to navigate and always sends you to the house website to check. The places are closed 75% of the time. Very few out of season, We are not planning on renewing our membership.

Had a recent issue with signing up using a discount code which meant I didn’t receive our temporary cards. I rang and spoke to Rosie who was courteous and very efficient, sorting the issue quickly and calling me back when she said she would. We have already used the cards in several places and feel they are good value for money.

I was a member a few years back and looked to renew my membership, but after looking at the available properties, you still have to pay for most of them.
This is totally ridiculous. One pays a membership and then pays extra for actually seeing the property.
Forget this I'm not joining.

I want to echo reviews already noting the significant hike in membership prices. We we're members for the family last year and really enjoyed it. We loved visiting the local houses when they are open (not open during the Winter months, which is frustrating and again makes the prices even more expensive), they are great for entertaining the kids with loads of events and adventure playgrounds. However, we have not renewed this year and will not renew again unless the company review their prices for kids. We do not agree with having to pay the same price for the kids, there is no incentive to purchase hh membership as a family. We do not have to do this for any of the other memberships we have (national trust and cadw). Yes it is true many places designed for just kids charge more for kids, but these houses are not that.
This price increase has certainly put all the families that regularly visited local houses- they have also not renewed. This in itself means 31 people not visiting the 2 local houses and buying drinks and snacks. We visited these houses about 15 times in the year, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting there deliberately to have a drink and allow the kids play in a safe place. Unfortunately we cannot afford to buy memberships for each individual house so now we will just keep to National trust as this membership allows access to more places throughout the year, for a reasonable price and Cadw because they offer castles and different properties in Wales- also reasonable price less than £80 for the 4 of us. We would consider renewing again if the pricing structure is different and certainly cheaper than £248 for the 4 of us.

This membership hasn't been worth it. I live in the south east and most of the nearby places aren't open for six months of the year
The information on opening times is poor. I'm currently sat in Rochester which took nearly two hours to get to and the place isn't even open!
The website makes it look like there's lots of houses to visit and there just isn't. Or you have to pre-book a tour, or you can only visit the garden.
I've been able to visit two places in a year. I compiled a list of 10 places I would like to have visited today from the website, and only two of them were open, and now I've got here,turns out this one isn't. I'm so angry right now
I don't get a lot of time off and I've wasted a day, again.
Don't waste your money.

We have been National Trust Members for year and decided to join Historic Houses last year as well and they are close to the same cost.
As a direct compare:
1. NT has a lot more places to visit
2. Nt places are open to all members, some HH are private
3. Most of HH are closed late Autumn till Spring
We will not renew this year.

Nothing is open. What's the point of having a years membership when you can only use it a for a few months of the year. The website is rubbish, opening times are really not easy to search or flick through. Makes planning a day out very difficult

Just found out my membership is going up a touch over 52%. I know we're living in inflationary times, but this is ridiculous. From £163 to £248 for the family.
Yes, the houses themselves are nice to visit (hence the second star) but any increase such as this is just stupidity. Anyone who has a simple knowledge of finances knows you can't just hike your prices to this extent without consequences. Can you not see what will happen here dummies? By introducing a flat £60 child or otherwise, familes and groups will look to cut down on the amount of tickets they buy, thus reducing footfall through the houses. When you do that, you are also reducing the amount of people who actually spend money at these places. Really hope they review this decision quickly, but in the meantime we are looking at other options. Also, service charges and booking fees to buy electronic passes do not belong in the 2020's. I realise there is a cost to print a card and send it out in the post, (although these things are only fairly thin card, not plastic) but having hiked your core prices massively already, don't then go and increase your "admin charge" from £3 to £8 and try and justify that too. The fact your website crashed on the day the mail came out speaks volumes. Really uneducated finacial decision by obviously inexperienced individuals.

Getting quite expensive! And charging an “admin fee” just adds insult to injury, delivery of membership cards should be included in the membership price

Poor customer service on the phone…
I found the assistant I dealt with unhelpful and lacking in any empathy - indeed I would describe her tone as thinly disguised contempt. In an effort to speak with the complaints manager or at least this girl’s manager, I was fobbed off with people who clearly weren’t in charge. I was so annoyed that I asked for the CEO’s name and contact details thinking I could start at the top and work down. My gripe was that this organisation were going to take my money very quickly, but then I would have to wait weeks for my membership. I thought this was poor, her response was to cancel my order! Somebody needs to listen to this call.

Historic Houses is an association of grand houses that are still privately owned. This makes it different from the National Trust or English Heritage. Because they are still owned and lived in, often by the same family who have owned the place for centuries, the houses have an individual character or quirkiness that is usually lacking in the properties owned by those other organisations. The downside of this is that (understandably) the opening times are often restricted, so you have to check carefully on the website of each house.
For your annual membership fee you get free access to visit many of Britain's finest houses, including Althorp, Berkeley, Haddon, Harewood, Highclere (Downton Abbey!), Sudeley... almost 300 in total.
Fortunately, the Historic Houses organisation has avoided the dumbing down and politicisation that has afflicted the National Trust in recent years. The magazine has in-depth historical articles, and even a cryptic crossword!

Awful online sign-up, particularly gifting, I already have emails received with the gift recipients name, I simply don't trust the won't do something dumb like email them, and finally a Christmas gift that starts from order date and not christmas, they should be offering a selected start date of membership, like everyone else does.

Not overly impressed as a first interaction. Let's hope it gets better.