tedgale

Can anyone tell me how usual it is for NT stately homes to levy a charge for parking?
We want to visit a number of NT properties in England on an upcoming visit to stately homes/gardens in the Cotswolds and Sussex.
We can purchase either a Royal Oak annual couple membership (95 USD) or the 14-day overseas Touring Pass (£57 until Feb 28).
The former includes free parking. The latter does not - I confirmed this by phone with NT.
We obviously don't want to rack up parking charges at a dozen or more properties, if avoidable.
But how customary is it to charge for parking? The NT rep checked one popular site I named at random (Hidcote Manor) and found parking was free.

marvelousmouse

Why don't you check the site of every single one you want to visit and do the math? I don't think "customary" matters- it's the indidual ones you're visiting that matters.

hetismij2

I think it is normal that if the property charges an entry fee parking is free. If they don't charge an entry fee you pay a parking fee. So for a stately home parking would be free, but for say the White Cliffs of Dover there is a parking fee (3.50GBP in that case - sometimes more than that depending on the site).

If you say where you want to visit I can check in my NT book if you like.

Gordon_R

Hetismij2 - not in my experience. Quite a few NT properties have a separate charge for parking - completely separate from entrance fees. This is another useful revenue stream for the organisation. Members don't have to pay (they display a sticker in their car), but other visitors do in additional to their entrance tickets. I've yet to see anyone actually patrolling the car park to check for parking tickets from the machine (or member's stickers) but these days it's wise not to take any chances.

hetismij2

OK, GordonR. I just checked afew places on the website and no mention was made of an additional parking fee unless the car park was not NT.
I apologise for misleading tedgale.
I have the sticker in my vehicle, and I have seen it checked, and had to show my card to validate it too.
No stickers from next year. You will have to scan a barcode on your membership card, which means I have to get a new one, since mine is a 43 year old, handwritten folding card jobbie.

tedgale

It's too early for us to say exactly which properties we'll see, so I can't do a precise calculation. But I've done a search on a few favourite properties.
I was not surprised to see that Sissinghurst does charge extra for parking. But I hadn't expected that a small and less known place, Ightham Mote, would have "pay and display".
It looks like roughly one-quarter of the country houses charge for parking and parking averages £3.
An important discovery was that Royal Oak membership gives you half-price admission to NT London Partner properties such as Benjamin Franklin House, which the Visitor Pass does not.
Furthermore, with the Royal Oak membership, you get the NT Handbook. I'm enough of a fogey that I like to have a hard copy guide when traveling, instead of searching on a cell phone or tablet.
Finally, I can get the Royal Oak membership pass before traveling. It, the parking decal and handbook will be sent to our US winter address while we are here in Savannah.
By contrast, you have to go to one of a limited number of NT sites - not necessarily a house we'd like to visit - to pick up and activate your Pass.
On balance, the Royal Oak membership seems to have enough pluses to justify the extra $30 Canadian I will pay for it.

marvelousmouse

Ooh. Good to know about the half price thing. Hope you post a trip report- I'm a bit jealous and would love to do a similar trip in the future!

janisj

The different in price is barely over $20 -- why sweat it -- join the Royal Oak.

tedgale

janisj: On a very old thread (2006), you recommended using Baldock Car Hire in Windsor for a car rental on arrival at LHR.

Have you any recent experience with them and do you still recommend them? Their website shows rental terms and prices (2015 prices only) that look very reasonable.

If that supplier isn't still recommended, I may start a separate thread about LHR car rental: the online reviews/ reports of the prevalence of scams, unwarranted charges and nasty surprises have me very spooked!

janisj

I haven't used Baldock's in ages (probably 6+ years) because I haven't needed to get a car in Windsor. But if they are still in business then I would definitely use them again. They are a small local garage and the location is very convenient. In the Arches walking distance from both Windsor central station and the Castle.

Don't expect a big rental depot like Avis -- just a garage tucked under the train tracks. But they were cheap and the cars were new/clean.

tedgale

Thanks janisj. I think I may still start a new thread to check into the perils of LHR car rental from the major agencies: Europcar seems to generate some particularly disturbing complaints, amounting to allegations of outright fraud

janisj

IME europcar is no better or worse than any other agency. I've used then 3 or 4 times . . . But unless I am getting a car IN Windsor I use autoeurope.com They handle all the majors and their customer service is really superior. IF one did have an issue w/ the specific rental agency, autoeurope would go to bat for you.

(They are based in Main and have toll free numbers from the States and from Europe/the UK)

tedgale

That's good to know. Thanks.
I did post a new thread before I saw your latest reply.
I am reassured to learn you've had good experiences. We used to rent often at LHR 2 decades ago -- before UK prices soared and we became so addicted to low-cost, sunny France, Italy and Spain.

janisj

That should say >> . . . in <i>Maine</i><<

>>before UK prices soared<<

Which prices? Just because the £ and € are at different rates vs the $ doesn't mean the prices are higher (some are . . . some/most aren't)

Though Spain can be a bargain I grant you . . .

Havana128

before UK prices soared

Eh?

tedgale

Perhaps I am showing my age. The prices I remember from my early adulthood seem like a dream today -- eg last-minute tickets to hit West End plays as low as 60 p. And dinner in a student-y Indian restaurant in Bloomsbury was seldom more than a pound. Long ago, indeed.