As it states Kew gardens are part of Wakehurst Place in Sussex, which is owned by the National Trust. Since 10th of April this year they are now charging £2 an hour to park there, even if you are NT members this they said was because they were just under £2million in debt, at Wakehurst.
Have tried to read the information but half is missing when I click on it.
Actually, Wakehurst Place is £1.4m in deficit and it takes £2.2m to run it. The reason why it's in deficit is because under the arrangement for leasing the grounds, and later the house at Kew, any National Trust members visiting could get into it for free. 80% of people who visit Wakehurst Place are National Trust members so the only income it derives is from the fee paying 20% non members and from the shop and restaurant. A discussion on charging entry for NT members went down like a lead ballon, but a compromise was that NT members could pay a £2 car parking charge. The alternative was that they had to cut back on horticulture and that was deemed unacceptable. There was some research done on car parking fees and this was considered the best option, although it has been opposed by some NT members. Unfortunately, you can't please all of the people all of the time. The alternative is to increase NT membership fees for all members but that has a negative effect as no doubt for every £1 fees go up, you lose another 1,000 members (that's just a guess, but you get my drift).
We belong to the national trust, but we will still have to pay £2 an hour to park our car there, so thats ontop of our yearly membership. You'd probably spend an hour just queing up and having a cup of tea.
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I'll do it Mike
If I've gone to sleep my the time I get your details I do it in the morning
In the sticks near Peterborough
As it states Kew gardens are part of Wakehurst Place in Sussex, which is owned by the National Trust. Since 10th of April this year they are now charging £2 an hour to park there, even if you are NT members this they said was because they were just under £2million in debt, at Wakehurst.
Have tried to read the information but half is missing when I click on it.
I don't mind who knows my details either Mike, I just like to know who does
In the sticks near Peterborough
Actually, Wakehurst Place is £1.4m in deficit and it takes £2.2m to run it. The reason why it's in deficit is because under the arrangement for leasing the grounds, and later the house at Kew, any National Trust members visiting could get into it for free. 80% of people who visit Wakehurst Place are National Trust members so the only income it derives is from the fee paying 20% non members and from the shop and restaurant. A discussion on charging entry for NT members went down like a lead ballon, but a compromise was that NT members could pay a £2 car parking charge. The alternative was that they had to cut back on horticulture and that was deemed unacceptable. There was some research done on car parking fees and this was considered the best option, although it has been opposed by some NT members. Unfortunately, you can't please all of the people all of the time. The alternative is to increase NT membership fees for all members but that has a negative effect as no doubt for every £1 fees go up, you lose another 1,000 members (that's just a guess, but you get my drift).
We belong to the national trust, but we will still have to pay £2 an hour to park our car there, so thats ontop of our yearly membership. You'd probably spend an hour just queing up and having a cup of tea.
Mike, I've signed you up. If the auto email comes back to me I'll forward it to you
In the sticks near Peterborough
Bumping this up in case there's some people who've not seen it.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.