The Stately Homes
House entry passes.
The best-known houses mostly charge for entry, and the four heritage bodies that run them each sell a multi-site pass. Which one pays its way depends entirely on where you are going - so each pass below links to the full list of houses it can cover. Three bodies also sell a year's membership, which is a different sum again - those are the last cards below.
Four multi-site passes cover UK stately homes, and between them they reach 169 of the 286 houses on this list: the National Trust Explorer Pass covers 147, the English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass 13, the Cadw Explorer Pass 5 and the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass 4. Historic Houses membership reaches a further 85 privately owned houses that no pass covers. 32 houses here are on none of them and set their own admission.
English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass
England
Can cover 13 charging stately homes on the list.
Historic Scotland Explorer Pass
Scotland
Can cover 4 charging stately homes on the list.
Cadw Explorer Pass
Wales
Can cover 3 charging stately homes on the list.
National Trust Explorer Pass
England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Can cover 147 charging stately homes on the list.
National Trust annual membership
One fee against 147 charging stately homes. Costed per visit, with the break-even.
English Heritage annual membership
13 charging stately homes here, set against the National Trust city by city.
Historic Houses annual membership
The privately owned houses the other cards miss: 88 here let members in free.
Who is not covered
National Trust for Scotland stately homes (a separate charity from the National Trust), Historic Royal Palaces sites such as the Tower of London, and the many privately run stately homes each set their own admission - none of the four passes above covers them. Many of the privately run houses do have a card of their own, though: Historic Houses membership lets members in free at 88 stately homes on this list, and is costed here. Almost every house on this list is staffed and ticketed - only 2 are free open-access sites where no pass is needed at all: see the free-entry list.
Common questions
Which UK heritage pass covers the most stately homes?
The National Trust Explorer Pass, by a wide margin: 147 of the 286 stately homes on this list are run by the National Trust, against 13 for the English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass, 5 for the Cadw Explorer Pass and 4 for the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass. A longer list is not the same as better value, though. Which pass pays its way depends on where you are actually going.
Is there one pass that covers every UK stately home?
No. The four passes are sold by four separate bodies and each covers only its own properties, so 169 of the 286 houses here fall under one of them and 117 do not. Historic Houses membership reaches 85 more privately owned houses, which still leaves 32 on this list that no pass or membership card covers.
Which pass works in Scotland?
Only the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass, and it reaches 4 of the 28 Scottish stately homes on this list. The National Trust Explorer Pass does not work north of the border: the National Trust for Scotland is a separate charity, and its 11 houses here are covered by none of the four passes. Historic Houses membership covers 11 Scottish houses, which takes the total reachable on any card to 15 of 28.
Do the passes cover the best-known stately homes?
Many of them. Stourhead, the most reviewed National Trust house on this list at 4.8 from 12,142 Google reviews, is covered, as is Osborne, the most reviewed English Heritage house at 4.6 from 10,203. Several of the biggest names are independent, though: Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard, Highclere Castle, Harewood House and Hatfield House each set their own admission and appear on no pass.
Is a pass better value than a year's membership?
It depends on how long you are here and how many houses you plan to see. The four passes are short-run tickets valid for a set number of days, from 3 up to 16, and are built for a single trip. A year's membership is one fee against every visit you make in twelve months. The National Trust, English Heritage and Historic Houses all sell both, and the break-even for each membership is costed house by house on its own page, linked from the cards above.