The dumbed-down National Trust has become the National Distrust – but it’s not too late to save it

It got tangled up in the culture wars, transformed some of its finest buildings into childish theme parks and is serially guilty of patronising its visitors: no wonder the former boss of the charity says it’s heading in the ‘wrong direction’. But all is not lost, says National Trust lover Harry Mount

Grade I listed mansion Sudbury Hall is one of the properties to fall foul of misguided curators (Getty)

This bank holiday, I hope you are somewhere as lovely as the National Trust’s Stackpole Estate in Pembrokeshire. That’s where I am this weekend. It’s where I’ve been coming all my life – 3,000 acres of rolling farmland, seabird-haunted cliffs and the shimmering necklace of interlocking lakes that form the Bosherston Lily Ponds.

Stackpole is the National Trust at its best, fulfilling the trust’s purpose to look after buildings and landscapes forever. It was here too where I noticed, eight years ago, that something was going wrong with the trust. By the Bosherston Lily Ponds, it had erected a bright purple sign, saying:

“Return to the start, a new path you’ll take Its rocky in places, don’t fall in the lake.”