With the  National Trust hiking its membership fees amid accusations of a "woke" cultural agenda, Brits seeking their heritage fix are flocking to a lesser-known alternative. The conservation charity has increased membership fees by nearly 25% over the last three years, a measure attributed to a "challenging" financial climate including a £10 million rise in labour costs following Rachel Reeves's autumn budget. While the National Trust lost a staggering 89,000 members between 2023 and 2024, however, fellow heritage organisation Historic Houses has been making strides forward, doubling its membership figures in a five year period.

Historic Houses was established in 1973 - nearly a century after its better-known rival - as an independent non-profit that spans hundreds of houses, castles and gardens across the UK, including Balmoral Castle, Blenheim Palace and Hever Castle, the childhood home of Queen Anne Boleyn. Meanwhile, the National Trust has come under fire for perceived "woke" measures in recent years, including replacing the term "ethnic minority" with "global majority" and launching a charity calendar that eschewed Christmas and Easter in favour of Diwali, Eid and Ramadan.

Former chair Simon Jenkins has also criticised the organisation's tilt towards "left-wing politics" since leaving his post in 2014. He told The Spectator: "I do regard the sort of 'woke cult' at the moment as seriously threatening to many cultural institutions."

While Historic Houses may offer a cleaner slate for some new members, it also comes at a lesser cost, with single adult membership priced at £68 per year, 29% less than the National Trust equivalent, which rose to £96 this month.

The Trust's 5.4 million-strong membership continues to dwarf Historic Houses' rapidly-growing 85,000, however - likely due to the former's wide range of group passes, portfolio of UK sites and impressive reputation.

Admission is only permitted to 303 of Historic Houses' member properties, but Ben Cowell, director general of the association, is confident that they each offer a unique appeal, thanks to the charity's hands-off approach, with popularity primarily growing among older demographics.

"The whole point is that these places are independent," he told The Telegraph. "They are their own masters and can be run in whichever way they want and they display things however they wish.

"Our card won't get you into the really famous ones like Chatsworth, Castle Howard, Blenheim or Longleat, but we've got more than 300 free-to-enter places," Mr Cowell added. "You get a different kind of experience at each, and that's what our members really appreciate."

He admitted that deals for group entry are much more competitive under the National Trust or English Heritage - with both organisations also benefitting from uniform opening and closing times, rather than the inconsistent approach across Historic Houses' network of sites.

He also insisted that the heritage charities are not in competition with one another, but coexist as distinct, if overlapping entities. "People obviously have their own opinions about the National Trust, but we work really closely with them and they do an amazing job," he said.

National Trust director general Hilary McGrady has rubbished accusations of the charity turning "woke", suggesting that it "epitomises what a lot of people consider to be the halcyon days of Britain", with "anything that vaguely [pokes] at that" bound to attract undue attention.

"It's such a ridiculous term, 'wokery'," she told The Times in 2022. "I'm interested in bringing nature, beauty and history to the nation, and I don't even know what 'woke' means in that context."