National Trust: 10 interesting facts and figures about the National Trust for Historic Places

The National Trust for Historic Places or Natural Beauty is one of the UK's largest charitable organizations and its most popular. The National Trust is known to be responsible for the maintenance of hundreds of mansions and other buildings in their care. Since the organization was founded, its remit has been "to care, in perpetuity, for places of historic significance or natural beauty in the national interest of England, Wales and Northern Ireland."

Here are 10 you may not Interesting facts and figures to know about trusts. A vicar, a woman and a lawyer walk into a pub...

The National Trust was established in 1895 by three people: Ocavia Hill - a social Reformers, Sir Robert Hunt - a lawyer, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley - a poet and clergyman. They believed an organization was needed to protect Britain's open spaces and historic sites from development. Children's author Beatrix Potter was also a major early supporter - she bought many farms and villages in the Lake District and donated them to the trust. Forever for Everyone

The National Trust was originally established as a private charity, but over the years it has also been supported by various Acts of Parliament. What this means is that once you donate property to the National Trust, it becomes their property in the public trust forever and they can never sell it. The National Trust Act gives trusts unique statutory powers to declare land inalienable. This prevents land from being sold or mortgaged against the wishes of the trust without special parliamentary procedure.

Millions

The National Trust has 4.24 million members in the UK. Americans can also join the Trust by joining the American Royal Oak Foundation (20% discount for Angloopia readers)! An Army

The Trust has only 5,899 paid staff to manage their portfolio, but they are backed by 62,000 volunteers who devote their time and energy to protecting the properties in their care. Historic Houses and Gardens

The Trust has over 200 historic houses open to the public from various periods of British history. It is common for landowners to hand over their houses to a trust rather than pay estate taxes. Typically, a trust will work with the landowner to allow them to continue to live in part of the property for a certain period of time. The largest private landowner 'KDSP' trust is also the largest private landowner in the UK, with 610 people and 1,000 acres (985 square miles) of land under their care across the UK. Most popular place

In 2014-2015, the Trust's most popular attraction was the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, with 549,066 visitors. The second most visited tourist attraction was Stourhead House and Gardens in Wiltshire, with 405,572 visitors. It was followed by Clevedon in Buckinghamshire with 404,702 visitors. With revenues fitting the 2014 King's "KDSP" trust, the trust brought in ￡494 million - about $700 million. The money comes from donations, entrance fees to the property and dues. As the trust is a charity, all funds go directly towards the management of the homes and properties they manage. The village, and not just the other quirky

houses in their history - the Trust also owns the entire village. For example, they own the village of Coffey Castle, which surrounds Dorset's famous castle. The villages are not museums, in fact the Trust acts simply as a landowner, encouraging these places to continue to be places where people live and work. Governance

The Trust is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors, appointed and overseen by a 26-member Council elected by the members of the Trust, and by others concerned with the work of the Trust Twenty-six were appointed by organizations such as the Soil Association, the Royal Horticultural Society and the British Archaeological Council. At an operational level, the Trust is organized into areas aligned with the official local *** areas of South England. Its headquarters are in Swindon.