A BUILDING BONANZA

Claire Saul samples some of the entries in a new publication from the National Trust

- Claire Saul

The National Trust has developed a huge portfolio since it was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley. We can only imagine their pride in knowing that, almost 130 years later, the conservation charity now looks after more than 615,000 acres of countryside, 780 miles of coastline and around 10,000 historic buildings, plus gardens and nature reserves.

More than 300 of those buildings are open to the public. They span 900 years of architectural design, beginning with Horton Court, near Chipping Sodbury in south Gloucestershire, which can proudly boast a central hall dating from around 1185, and ending with the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre in County Antrim, completed just over a decade ago.

It is Horton Court (0344 800 2070, nationaltrust.org.uk/horton-court) in Gloucestershire which first falls under the spotlight in the organisation’s latest book, 60 Remarkable Buildings of the National Trust, which showcases a fascinating collection of built structures, incorporating urban and rural, industrial and domestic buildings, plus places of spirituality and faith, life and death.

Most of Horton Court dates to around 1521 when additions were built for William Knight, ambassador to kings Henry VII and VIII, whose travels abroad possibly inspired his architectural taste. Fans of the television adaptation of Wolf Hall might be interested to learn that the property, featured in the series as the exterior of Cromwell’s London home Austin Friars, is now also one of the trust’s newest holiday cottages.