What we do and why
Since 1931, the National Trust for Scotland has been protecting our country’s nature, beauty and heritage.
We want everyone to experience and enjoy Scotland’s beautiful landscapes, breathtaking architecture and fascinating collections. We care for more than 100 places – battlefields, historic buildings, gardens, coastlines, islands and mountain ranges, as well as the plants and animals that live in these varied habitats – so that everyone can share our love for them and protect them now and for the future.
We are the largest Scottish membership organisation, and we work in partnership with communities, other charities and conservation groups to achieve our common goals, speaking out to protect Scotland’s heritage.
Our places are important to people from Scotland and beyond. Every year at Trust places, the stories of millions of visitors are interwoven with Scotland’s vast and vibrant history. We keep this rich tapestry safe, so that these stories can be remembered and relived, again and again.
Archaeology
We look after around 12,000 archaeological sites and features, from the Mesolithic Age onwards. Our research from digs informs our conservation work and enriches the stories we tell about our places.
Buildings, monuments and battlefields
We look after grand castles and working homes, and many other buildings that demonstrate the scope of Scotland’s architectural heritage. We also care for history-shaping sites like Culloden and Bannockburn battlefields.
Collections
There are more than 300,000 collection items to discover in our places, each telling a story of Scotland’s past and people. Displaying these artefacts in their original settings brings history to life in a relatable way, and our interpretation captures imaginations, young and old.
Gardens
As Scotland’s largest garden owner, we cultivate over 100,000 individual native and exotic plants, and also tackle environmental issues such as biodiversity, climate change, energy conservation and invasive non-native species.
Countryside and wildlife
Advocacy
We don’t just care for our places – we campaign for them. Using our 94 years of expertise and experience, we aim to challenge, inform and pioneer public access, so that everyone can enjoy them.
We care for important Scottish landscapes, including 8 National Nature Reserves, 46 Munros and many islands. Our pioneering approach to conservation and tireless monitoring work helps us to protect rare and remarkable species in diverse habitats all across Scotland.
Building on Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone
Since launching Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone in 2022, we have worked hard to reset our direction and recover from the effects of the pandemic. Throughout our Recovery & Planning phase, our charity has grown: attracting record visitor numbers, securing unprecedented support from donors and funders, improving our commercial income and growing our membership too.
All of this has helped us invest more than ever in vital conservation work and in reaching new audiences, so more people can get involved and be inspired by the special places in our care.
The world, and the context in which our charity works, is ever-changing. As we move into the Building phase (2025–28) of our strategy, we have reviewed and updated our strategic pillars and objectives, giving further emphasis to our people and processes.
During this next phase, the focus is to develop, build on and deliver the ambitions of our strategy, guided by objectives which have evolved to reflect all that has passed in the last few years. These have expanded from the 11 we started with in 2022 to 17, with important additions focusing on research; enterprise and fundraising; health & safety; technology, systems and data; and our people. We’ve also added more detail and updated timescales on our objective to becoming climate positive.
These revisions set out clearly our commitment to conservation and nature, and the significance of heritage in everybody’s lives, which feels more needed than ever.
House of Dun
Leading the Trust
Patron
His Majesty The King
President
Jackie Bird MBE
Vice-Presidents
Caroline Borwick
Professor Hugh Cheape
The Duchess of Fife
Professor Michael ScottMorton
Trustees
Sir Mark Jones, Chair (until 8 August 2025)
Dame Sue Bruce
DBE CVO, Chair (from 9 August 2025)
Shona Malcolm, Deputy Chair
David Mitchell, Deputy Chair
Janet Brennan
Peter Drummond
David MacLellan
Jill Miller
Stephen Mitchell
Cameron Murray
Professor Murray Pittock
Michael Spence
Ian Turnbull
Will Williams
Leadership team
Philip Long OBE, Chief Executive
Stuart Brooks, Director of Conservation & Policy
Jane Ferguson, Director of Audiences & Support
David Frew, Head of Mar Lodge Estate
Iain Hawkins, Regional Director (North East)
Lesley-Ann Logan FCA, Chief Financial and Corporate Officer
Stuart Maxwell, Regional Director (Edinburgh & East)
Ian McLelland, Regional Director (South & West)
Pamela Milne, People Director
Caroline Reid, Director of Commercial Enterprises
Stephen Small, Director of Legal and Governance
Michael Terwey, Director of Public Engagement & Research
Clea Warner, Regional Director (Highlands & Islands)
A fond farewell
Sir Mark Jones joined the National Trust for Scotland in summer 2019. As his time with the Trust comes to an end, he reflects on his role as Chair.
Shortly after I became Chair, the Trust was faced with the need to close all our properties to the public early in 2020. With the disappearance of income from visits and commercial activities, it was a difficult and, as it seemed then, potentially disastrous situation.
Looking back now, I think we could say that the Trust emerged from the pandemic with less damage than was initially feared. Staff worked hard and imaginatively to re-open places sooner than some others in the visitor economy, and that has been good for the Trust’s reputation and for the retention of members and supporters – as we can see in the figures for subsequent years.
In 2020, the National Trust for Scotland was very fortunate to acquire Phil Long as our new Chief Executive. He has reconnected the Trust with our core charitable purposes, increased effectiveness and, together with the teams he’s built, given the organisation a better sense of who we are and what we can achieve.
The work of the National Trust for Scotland is as needed now as it has ever been. We’re all aware of the challenges to biodiversity and the ecologies on which we, and all our fellow species on Earth, depend. The Trust’s stewardship of the land, particularly its wild places, continues to be important and (we hope) effective as an example of what can and should be done.
The Trust is responsible for some of the most important seabird colonies in Britain and Europe. Their future is dependent on the
availability of food. Our successful participation in a campaign that led to a ban on sand eel fishing is an example of the way in which advocacy can help us to achieve our objectives.
The historic houses and gardens in the Trust’s care are in better shape than they have been for some time. Geilston House and Malleny House are assured of a sustainable future; major schemes for the renewal of the Hill House and Fyvie Castle are under way; and exciting work on gardens at Newhailes and elsewhere is planned for our forthcoming centenary.
Looking ahead, I hope the National Trust for Scotland can convey the importance of caring for and learning from historic buildings, each one of which can act as a magical doorway to the past; and that it can help challenge the perception that there is a conflict between nature and people. People are part of the natural world and always have been. If we are to have a future, everyone needs to think about how we can work with nature in everything that we do, rather than push against it.
I am delighted that the Trust has chosen Dame Sue Bruce as my successor and feel confident about the Trust’s future as I wish her and our Board, employees, volunteers and supporters every success in the future.
Protecting Scotland’s heritage now and into the future
Chief Executive Philip Long reflects on a dynamic year for the National Trust for Scotland and gives an insight into the years to come.
Looking back over the last year, I am pleased to report it has been one of further growth for the National Trust for Scotland across our key areas of conservation, engagement and sustainability.
A record 5.6 million visits were made to our places; we received more support through donations, appeals and legacies than ever before; our commercial activities that enable our charitable purpose achieved new levels of performance; and our membership numbers continue to grow. This has meant we have been able to continue to invest substantially in conservation and our wider work to get more people involved and inspired by what we do.
Over the last year the external fabric of Craigievar Castle was restored, the St Kilda kirk roof was fully repaired, and in Angus the 18th-century Barry Mill was brought back into working order, enabling it to produce flour once again. In strategic developments, we published our Plan for Nature, giving us clear direction in looking after the natural world in our care – a task of ever-growing importance as the effects of the climate and biodiversity crises become increasingly evident. An environmental sustainability plan for all of our estate and activities has been put in place to support the essential task of reducing our carbon emissions.
Vitally, our strong performance in 2024/25 helps our future resilience and ability to plan, in the face of continuing global uncertainty and economic shock. Looking forward into 2025 and beyond, we begin the second phase of our ambitious ten-year strategy: Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone. We are delighted to re-open the restored Canna House and to share with visitors its precious Gaelic collections that tell of past Hebridean life and traditions. We have also undertaken a major marine engineering project to improve access to the Isle of Staffa (visited by over 100,000 people a year), and on Iona we are taking on the care of a farm, reviving it and contributing to the conservation of the island’s landscape and nature.
Work to restore Mackintosh’s masterpiece at the Hill House will accelerate, following our successful application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2024 for support to promote and conserve the legacy of Mackintosh and his wife and collaborator Margaret Macdonald. In the North East, the celebrated Fyvie Castle, Garden & Estate will receive new attention, as we begin a decade-long
project to restore its 18th-century Old Home Farm and address the complex conservation needs of the castle itself and the spectacular collections. Our ambitions for Fyvie extend across the whole estate, which we wish to bring to life for more people. Recently, we have done this very successfully at Drum Castle – trees were turned into an innovative natural play area for families, where you can also learn about our work to conserve the surrounding ancient woodlands.
Challenges abound too. Early in 2025, Storm Éowyn wreaked havoc across our gardens and estates, destroying and damaging many thousands of trees – no less than 400 within the historic woodlands at Culzean Country Park alone. Rising sea levels will also affect our coastal places, and so we are beginning a programme of archaeology to understand how human heritage may be at risk across the thousands of miles of coastline in our care.
Our ability to address these challenges is made possible by the passion of our staff and volunteers, and the support we receive from our members and many more. For over 90 years now, the National Trust for Scotland has cared for and protected much of Scotland’s most precious heritage. We are proud to continue to do so and remain grateful to all who make our work possible, in particular to Sir Mark Jones, our retiring Chair.
Our strong performance in 2024/25 helps our future resilience and ability to plan, in the face of continuing global uncertainty and economic shock.
The restored Canna House
Celebrating a Trustwide contribution to our financial sustainability
As we start the Building phase of our Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone strategy, we do so on firm foundations, writes Lesley-Ann Logan, Chief Financial and Corporate Officer.
We produced an excellent and sustained performance across the Trust in 2024/25, with overall income well up year-on-year. Combined with rigorous cost controls, we were able to report a surplus for the year, putting us in a strong position to deliver the second phase of our ten-year strategy.
Financial highlights during the year included some exceptional individual donations and legacies to the Trust, along with a very strong performance from Commercial Enterprises. Memberships and property income were also ahead of target. In short, all of our teams have contributed to our objective to keep our charity financially secure, including our colleagues who provide such excellent visitor experiences at our properties. We know this feeds into visitors’ decisions to support us further, whether through spending in our shops and cafés, becoming a member or making a donation.
Alongside these regular income streams, the sale proceeds from the disposal of our tenanted properties in Dunkeld added to our income in 2024/25. This sale expands Perth & Kinross Council’s stock of affordable housing for local people, which is an important issue in the area, while still ensuring the conservation of Dunkeld’s historic townscape. We have designated the sale proceeds for conservation work at Geilston and Malleny, and we’re excited about the opportunity to invest in these two delightful properties.
In my own role as Chief Financial and Corporate Officer, one highlight relates to how we used money, not just received it. All teams delivered efficiencies in process and costs while maintaining and improving service levels – a Trust-wide win. Recent reviews and
updates to procurement and treasury policy will further support this work.
We also invested strategically. The most visible investments of 2024/25 were projects such as conserving Canna House, completing the Glencoe Greenway and integrating Mackintosh at the Willow into our portfolio, after we acquired it in January 2024. But there was less visible investment too, in ways that are essential to keep our charity financially secure and sustainable.
One of those significant behind-the-scenes projects involved investing in our business processes and systems, particularly in IT. It’s imperative to keep ourselves protected and alert to emerging risks relating to data protection and cybersecurity, and we have invested in the resources and security infrastructure to support that.
Investment in IT is also improving the visitor and staff experience. Full delivery of our local area network (LAN) has resulted in better connectivity for everyone and has allowed us to develop new regional work hubs. These new ways of working, together with the move from the Hermiston Quay office in Edinburgh to our new space in South Gyle, are facilitating better cross-team connections, reducing office-space overheads, and supporting the introduction of a new Sustainable Travel policy.
The fact that we finished 2024/25 with recordbreaking income and an overall surplus makes it easy to view in hindsight as a year of smooth sailing. This wasn’t the case. As a charity, we continue to face challenges such as increased costs, the cost-of-living crisis and its potential impact on domestic visitor numbers
or memberships. Geopolitical events had potential to influence international visitor numbers in 2024/25 and will continue to do so. Global economic uncertainties carry potential for fluctuating investment returns, making the support of our knowledgeable investment committee members more valued than ever. And climate change makes the task of conserving Scotland’s unique built and natural heritage ever more complex – and important.
Adding to these challenges was the announcement – midway through our 2025/26 budget process – of the 1.2% increase in employer National Insurance Contributions, as well as the 5% increase to the Real Living Wage. These increases added over £1.2 million to our projected staff costs for 2025/26, requiring adjustment to our plans to mitigate their impact, while still maintaining ambition for the year ahead. I’m proud of my colleagues, whose resourcefulness and dedication help us navigate these challenges successfully.
I am also grateful to colleagues who have supported me in my role as Financial Director since 2023, and then as Chief Financial and Corporate Officer since October 2024. Finance and Corporate Services touch every aspect of what we do in the Trust, and having the opportunity to influence the overall direction of our charity is an exciting challenge and privilege.
My job takes me to some amazing places –including bringing me full circle to landscapes such as Mar Lodge Estate and Torridon that I first fell in love with when studying Environmental Science at university. Personal highlights in my new role have included visits to Fyvie and Arduaine, and meeting and thanking volunteers at end-of-season events at Culloden, House of Dun and Crarae. The passion of our amazing staff and volunteers for the Trust is awesome and certainly drove 2024/25’s positive results. We’re also fortunate to have the support of our Board and subcommittees – I am grateful for their guidance and expertise.
Looking to 2025/26, we have an incredibly busy and ambitious year ahead. The passion and expertise of our employees, volunteers and supporters will be more valuable than ever.
Below: Malleny Garden
Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone
An overview of our ten-year strategy –Recovery & Planning phase 2022–25
CONSERVATION
Caring for Scotland’s special places
• We will have stabilised and improved the condition of our heritage buildings and structures, ensuring their future and that of our collections and gardens.
• We will have enriched Scotland’s protected heritage to make it relevant to more people, either directly through ownership or working in partnership with communities and others.
• We will have enabled nature to flourish across our countryside, gardens, and farmed and designed landscapes, taking the opportunity to aid its recovery in places where climate change and past practices have diminished it.
• We will speak up for Scotland’s heritage, doing whatever we can to promote its benefits whilst protecting the places in our care and other landscapes, habitats and historic places that are important to Scotland.
ENGAGEMENT
Providing access and enjoyment for everyone
• We will be a leading provider of inspiring heritage visitor experiences in Scotland to more than 6 million people a year by 2032.
• We will be a learning organisation, championing skills to support traditional conservation and innovation as well as delivering an enhanced programme of research, informal and formal learning that mixes traditional and digital outputs to ensure everyone can have access.
• We will enable a greater diversity of people and communities to access our properties to improve their health and wellbeing.
SUSTAINABILITY
Being a sustainable charity
• We will be a growing, diverse organisation, with over half a million members, 6 million annual visitors and a workforce that’s representative of modern Scotland.
• We will be financially secure, balancing our income with over £100m of capital investment over the lifetime of this strategy, while maintaining enough reserves to ensure our long-term resilience.
• We will have transformed our organisation to be carbon negative by 2031, working towards a more sustainable visitor economy.
• We will have invested in our people – the volunteers and staff who care for our places – and equipped them with the systems and capabilities they need.
Preparing an
to
embroidered bedcover from the Hill House
be displayed at the Trust’s Stitched textile exhibition at the Dovecot Studios
Re-thatching the roof at Bachelors’ Club
Conservation
Caring for Scotland’s special places
Stabilising and improving the condition of our estate
2024/25 saw us undertake an extensive programme of conservation maintenance at numerous sites across Scotland, using technology to better understand our built structures, and investing in further training and skills development.
Falkland Palace & Garden
• Wall Paintings Conservator Karen Dundas ACR worked at height checking for historic and new water ingress to determine the condition of the painted scheme in the Chapel.
• We installed de-humidifiers to ‘condition’ the tapestries before removing and packing them, working with textile and tapestry specialist conservator Sophie Younger ACR.
Kellie Castle & Garden
We have enhanced our understanding of Kellie’s historic plaster ceilings by applying the latest technologies in 3D scanning and digital visualisation.
• We chose to combine two types of 3D documenting technology: 3D terrestrial laser scanning and high-resolution photogrammetry.
• The scan data was used to generate a highly accurate and scaled virtual model of the ceilings; the high-resolution photos provided a vivid, photorealistic finish.
The learnings from Kellie will serve as a case study for wider digital documentation projects at our properties.
Mar Lodge Estate NNR
The picnic cottage in woodlands near Linn of Quoich on Mar Lodge Estate has been restored to its former glory.
• Our contractors Bruden Joinery cleared rubble from inside the dwelling before repointing the mortar and repairing the harling on the cottage walls, dismantling dormer windows, and installing doors, windows and floors to make it watertight and accessible.
• A covered wooden porch was added to help reinstate the cottage’s original features, discovered using archival records and a subsequent archaeological survey.
Bachelors’ Club
• We completed the first phase of planned work at the Bachelors’ Club, which involved re-thatching the entire building, rebuilding a brick chimney head in traditional stone, making repairs to roof timbers, and replacing the lead valleys and flashings with neighbouring properties.
• The next phase will include repairs to the external and internal walls of the building.
St Kilda World Heritage Site
Due to St Kilda’s location in the North Atlantic, the islands face gales approximately 75 days a year; peak winds can reach 144mph. Conservation work here is even more challenging than at our other places.
• Extensive repairs to the kirk roof and the replacement of gutters were carried out, to make the kirk and adjacent school building watertight and windtight.
• This required specialist heritage conservation expertise and skills, as well as a gruelling logistical marathon.
We are delighted to have completed a nine-year programme of repair and restoration to Canna House, the former home of dedicated Gaelic scholars John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw.
Extensive repairs have been made to the building, roof and windows of the house to withstand the Hebridean weather and protect its important contents, which include an internationally significant archive collection of Gaelic music, folklore and culture.
Work has been under way since 2016 with a series of emergency repairs, but it was in 2022 that the project really gathered pace as a priority project. The project was incredibly complex:
• We cleaned and conserved more than 1,650 objects.
• We conserved 160 items of furniture.
• We cleaned and conserved 140 framed works.
• We cleaned more than 50 fixtures and fittings.
• We cleaned historic wallpapers and original painted surfaces in 10 rooms, with other lost original wallpapers recreated.
• Extensive external fabric conservation repair took place, focusing on future climate resilience.
• Structural repairs were completed to the original building.
• Further structural enhancement took place to accommodate new archive facilities.
• We updated services and improved insulation for better energy efficiency.
• We installed a conservation heating system to protect the collections.
• We’ve created two dedicated archive storage rooms and a reading room within the house.
Canna House has been presented as it would have looked in the mid-20th century, and we are excited to share this experience with a new generation of visitors. It is now open for pre-booked guided tours, where visitors will experience the sense that ‘someone has just left the room,’ thanks to the lived-in feel throughout the house. Gaelic song and language fill the air, as audio devices are triggered when visitors move through each room.
Among the highlights of the collection are a Dictaphone recording machine, which John used to capture Gaelic speakers in the Western Isles and Cape Breton; Margaret’s favourite Graflex camera used to record a disappearing way of life; and the Book of Pooni, dedicated to their favourite cat.
Caring for our island places is not always an easy task, but it is an important one and our charity is privileged to play a part, alongside the creative residents, skilled contractors and many others who make projects like this possible. This project means more people can now enjoy the nature, beauty and heritage of this special place.
The project to repair and refurbish Canna House cost £3.6 million. We were able to undertake this work thanks to the support of the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA, generous donors and several reserved funds given for conservation projects of this nature, with the balance covered through income generated by commercial profits.
Caring for Scotland’s special places
Enriching our heritage to make it relevant to more people
After nearly three years of meticulous research, exploration and dedication, the PLANTS project drew to a close in March 2025. Dr Colin McDowall, as the PLANTS Project Manager, oversaw the whole project.
As the largest horticultural audit ever undertaken by the Trust, the groundbreaking PLANTS project set out to document and safeguard the remarkable plant collections across 35 of the Trust’s gardens and designed landscapes. I am thrilled to say that we achieved our primary goal: we now have a comprehensive, standardised plant inventory.
The project team successfully audited all 35 gardens, documenting over 77,000 plant accessions, with 48,000 newly created ones.
Among these records, we have identified over 15,000 distinct plant types, including over 1,200 different types of rhododendron, 705 types of daffodils, 452 rose varieties, and 320 apple taxa. Properties like Arduaine, Brodick, Crathes, Crarae, Threave and Inverewe hold the largest number of living accessions, with each maintaining over 5,000 plants.
This page: Leith Hall Garden
Right: PLANTS team members auditing Malleny Garden
One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was the strong collaboration between our project team and gardeners. Their deep knowledge was instrumental in plant identification and data verification. Training sessions for the new plant database sparked interesting discussions, with gardeners eagerly learning more about the history of the collection they are looking after. This enthusiasm bodes well for the continued success of the database, which will serve as a vital tool for decades to come.
Thanks to PLANTS, we can now identify how many of our plant species are classified as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Early findings reveal that the Trust’s gardens host 114 rhododendron species classified as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. Additionally, we care for two species that are officially extinct in the wild – Brugmansia suaveolens and Brugmansia sanguinea.
An unexpected highlight was discovering cultivars bred by Trust gardeners or named after our properties. At Threave, we identified five unique plant varieties developed at the Threave School of Heritage Gardening, including Abies
koreana ‘Threave’ and Ozothamnus ‘Threave Seedling’. At Culzean, we found Crocosmia pottsii ‘Culzean Pink’ and ‘Culzean Peach’. Crarae Garden is home to the rare cultivar Fagus sylvatica ‘Crarae’, one of only five known specimens in the world.
The PLANTS project has also fostered a greater connection between the Trust’s gardens and the public. The project teams engaged with visitors through talks at horticultural societies, chatting with people in the gardens, and posting social media content. This all helped shine a spotlight on the Trust’s conservation efforts, inspiring new audiences to appreciate the richness of Scotland’s plant heritage.
Cal Major on St Kilda
CONSERVATION
Caring for Scotland’s special places
Enabling nature to flourish across our countryside, gardens, and farmed and designed landscapes
Our ambassador Cal Major spent some time on St Kilda in the summer of 2024, volunteering with the seabird team. She also created a series of short films about her adventure that highlight the importance of our conservation work on this World Heritage Site.
Experiencing St Kilda has been right at the top of my bucket list for a very long time, so the opportunity to spend a month there volunteering with the seabird team felt like a dream come true.
St Kilda is a place of superlatives – the UK’s largest puffin colony, highest sea stacks and only dual World Heritage Site. It’s also the wildest and remotest place I’ve been in the British Isles. From the moment I stepped foot onto the islands amidst eider ducks, seals and red knot, I experienced a sense of envelopment into what felt like its very own ecosystem; the wild sounds and sights instantly becoming a part of my being.
Despite all of this, St Kilda’s wildlife is facing a number of serious challenges. These are the islands ‘at the edge of the world’ but at the forefront of climate change. It’s hard to believe that, not so long ago, there were three times as many fulmars soaring above the cliffs and great skuas nesting on the grassy hills.
The seabirds here are under serious pressure from a variety of threats, which the seabird team is working hard to fully understand. Included in that list is avian influenza, which has had a devastating impact on certain seabirds – two-thirds of the great skua colony was lost in the outbreak over 2021 and 2022 alone. One of my roles on the island in my veterinary capacity was to work with the seabird team to take samples of great skuas and puffins to ascertain their response to the influenza viruses. This is vitally important work to help us understand how best to navigate that pressure moving forward.
I loved the work with the seabirds, and hiking up St Kilda’s impossibly steep hills with an incredible team comprising Craig (St Kilda’s Marine and Seabird Ranger) and Liz and James (two deeply knowledgeable ecologists). We had special licences to allow the work to be carried out, and we had undertaken additional training so that disturbance to the birds was kept to a minimum.
I think great skuas are amazing birds, highly adapted to living in close proximity to other seabirds and doing their best to survive in a challenging landscape. Working with them up close and seeing their tiny fluffy chicks, and the protectiveness that the birds have for their nests, left me with a real fondness for them. Scotland is home to the majority of the world’s population of great skuas, and I found myself rooting for them to recover their numbers in spite of the tough years they’ve had.
While I was on St Kilda, I was also helping with biosecurity – the process of ensuring pathogens and non-native species, such as rats, aren’t inadvertently introduced to the island via supply ships and visitors. Rats have never been recorded on St Kilda; the introduction of just one rat, mink or other mustelid would be devastating to the ground-nesting birds there. One of the most important things that visitors to St Kilda can do to protect the birds here is to ensure that they’re not inadvertently introducing invasive species to the archipelago. If you’re planning a boat trip, please check your bag and clothes for pests; clean your boots or shoes with disinfectant; and tightly close any food containers shut (since they can attract stowaways onto boats or into bags).
My behind-the-scenes experience of this phenomenally special place has given me a humbling appreciation of all the work that goes on by a passionately dedicated team to protect the seabirds here. Amid all the pressures they’re under, the team work day in, day out to keep this epic place as a haven for seabirds to return to, year on year.
CONSERVATION
Caring for Scotland’s special places
Speaking up for our heritage
We have been battling to protect the site of the historic Bannockburn Battlefield from a damaging racetrack development. Jim Whyteside, Strategic Public Affairs Advisor, explains the history.
In the summer of 2024, the Trust was dismayed by news of a proposed development at Bannockburn, which would irreversibly change this historic battlefield.
The proposal was to build a horse-trotting track – along with car parks, roads, fencing, toilet blocks and other buildings – on green fields close to our Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre. These fields lie within the known boundaries of the 1314 battle and are included in the national Inventory of Historic Battlefields; they have been open fields for the 700 years since the battle.
Building here would destroy some of the last remaining areas of open landscape where the battle took place, including the spot where Robert Bruce’s Scots army is thought to have stood at the start of the battle. It would also remove one of the few remaining unspoiled views of the battlefield from the Rotunda and our visitor centre, where thousands of visitors and schoolchildren come each year to get a sense of this landmark battle.
Despite many objections to the proposed development, Stirling Council gave it the planning go-ahead in July 2024, causing local and national consternation. We then called upon Trust members and the public to help us defend this nationally important site, and we were delighted when Stirling Council’s planning decision was subsequently ‘called in’ by Scottish Ministers.
They appointed a Reporter to review the planning process, and we commissioned and submitted an independent report from a landscape planning specialist. This concluded that there were fundamental flaws in the planning application provided by the developers and also in the Council planning department’s handling of the application.
We are very pleased that Scottish Ministers have refused this application. When so much of the historic setting around Bannockburn Battlefield has already been lost, we believe that further development will irretrievably erode this iconic landscape and degrade visitors’ understanding of a key event in Scottish history.
However, there remains the possibility of future proposals and future flawed decisions, jeopardising the unique sense of place at the battlefield. And Bannockburn is not the only historic Scottish battlefield under threat from developers. At Culloden too, the battlefield and landscape around it are continually under threat from planning applications for residential and holiday developments.
We will continue to speak up for Bannockburn and Culloden. But there is an over-arching point here that our battles to protect Bannockburn and Culloden would not be necessary if Scotland’s battlefields were better protected by the planning system. Currently, they do not enjoy the same enhanced protections as Scheduled Monuments or Listed buildings, nor do they have the level of protection that English battlefields enjoy.
In order to prevent continual threats to sites that are hugely important for Scotland’s cultural identity and heritage, we would like enhanced protections to be extended to historic battlefields. That would include introducing conservation management plans (as in England) to guide the development of these sites landscape-wide, preventing piecemeal developments that chip away at their historical sense of place.
Alongside our work to protect Bannockburn and Culloden in 2024/25, we have spoken out against other developments that threaten the heritage in our care, including at St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve. We were therefore deeply disappointed that Scottish Ministers approved the site for the Berwick Bank offshore wind farm, which is close to internationally significant seabird colonies and Special Protection Areas.
While we support the expansion of offshore wind farms, we believe they must be sited in the right places for nature, unlike Berwick Bank. We will
monitor the situation closely, including the promise of ‘ecological compensation’ for the many thousands of seabirds that will be victims of this scheme.
Our advocacy work has the backing of our supporters and the wider public. Last year, we surveyed over 5,000 members, nonmembers, volunteers and staff about the Trust speaking out more. In quantitative and qualitative research, members, volunteers and staff told us it was important for the Trust to speak out about issues relating to heritage protection. Non-members also felt the Trust had an important role to play in speaking out on issues relating to protecting Scotland’s heritage. As one respondent put it, ‘When the Trust does speak out, people listen’.
We’re relieved that Scottish Ministers have listened to our defence of Bannockburn, and we’re very grateful to everyone who wrote to the Scottish Government to object to this development. But the fight to protect Scotland’s heritage is far from over.
Top: Living History at Culloden
Left: Statue of Robert Bruce at Bannockburn
Threave Garden
Engagement
ENGAGEMENT
Providing access and enjoyment for everyone
A leading provider of inspiring heritage visitor experiences
A record-breaking 9,661 children enjoyed the Easter trails at our North East properties over the Easter weekend. Carly Lamberty, Destination Marketing Manager, describes what makes Easter the hoppiest time of year for our places.
I love Easter at the Trust. For most properties in the North East, and other regions too, it’s the busiest weekend of the year, with many families coming back to our Easter Egg Trails year after year.
It’s also an amazing opportunity to connect with new visitors. Families come to an Easter Egg Trail, fall in love with our places, and perhaps become longer-term supporters of the Trust.
For Easter 2024, we organised trails at 11 different properties across the North East, including our first Easter Egg Trail at Craigievar Castle since it re-opened after the large conservation project there. Across the region, we had over 22,500 visitors (because children doing the trails bring their families with them!) over the four days of Easter – an important source of revenue that supports our yearround conservation work.
Overall, across Scotland, 35 different properties organised Easter trails, welcoming a grand total of 25,582 children. Children were tasked with collecting clues dotted around our wonderful gardens, estates and historic properties, before solving a puzzle and winning a tasty chocolate prize.
In 2024, for the first time, we offered allergy-free chocolate eggs, made by B-Corp certified Moo Free, as our trail prizes. Knowing that Easter can be frustrating for children with food allergies or intolerances or who follow a vegan or gluten-free diet, we offered a chocolate treat that everyone could enjoy – and received some wonderful feedback as a result.
An immense amount of planning is needed to deliver all this and make sure that everyone has a fantastic experience on the day, whatever the weather. This usually starts in May of the previous year! To secure the number of eggs we need, we try to order them in the summer before, and then each property designs their own trail, keeping things fresh with new routes and themes each year.
There is also an incredible amount of teamwork involved. From the staff and volunteers at the properties to the central and regional teams who promote the trails and ensure that we can offer great food, beverage and retail experiences to thousands of visitors, there are literally hundreds of people across the Trust helping to make Easter special each year.
I’m grateful to all of them for their hard work –and also to the thousands of families who flock to the trails each year, helping create such a joyful Easter atmosphere at our places, and supporting our charity in the process.
James Henderson, Operations Manager, Aberdeenshire South, explains why Little Oaks has been such a big hit at Drum Castle.
Ask anyone and they will tell you I’m always looking out for an opportunity! When Storm Babet swept through the North East in 2023, taking with it lots of trees, it planted a seed in my mind.
What if we could give those fallen trees a second life? One that would enhance the visitor experience at Drum Castle and would represent a pioneering approach to play in the National Trust for Scotland? And that’s how the idea for Little Oaks came about.
We used those storm-felled trees to create a natural play area – one that is built from sustainable materials and encourages children to use their imagination. We’ve got a huge lime tree crown as a climbing frame, as well as lots of other features that our younger visitors love exploring, all in a lovely open setting.
It was brilliant working with colleagues to plan it all. We didn’t just think about the play area features, but also the trees and shrubs that we were replanting, so that it will constantly grow and evolve, staying fresh for our visitors.
My favourite thing about Little Oaks isn’t the fantastic increase in secondary spend (something which may surprise anyone who remembers me from my retail years!) but it’s that Little Oaks has allowed us to grow really close to the local community in a new way. From the outset of the project, we were working with local people: our tree surgeons were from Drumoak, other contractors were from the local area, and we had our volunteers getting hands-on too. It’s been a gamechanger.
In the year since it opened, the transformation has been amazing – we have so many local families who come back again and again. I visited recently and the place was jumping! Families were having a fantastic time: loads of children, parents and grandparents exploring, climbing and making the most of the space. I am so proud of everything that we’ve achieved.
From Little Oaks, fun memories are made!
Above: Little Oaks play area, Drum Castle, Garden & Estate
ENGAGEMENT
Providing access and enjoyment for everyone
Championing skills to support traditional conservation and innovation
At Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (RBBM) and Brodick Castle, a new education project aimed to develop young people’s employability skills, increase their confidence and help them learn about careers in the heritage sector.
The Workforce for the Future project at RBBM saw Primary 7 schoolchildren take part in a series of workshops at the museum and at Burns Cottage to learn more about Robert Burns’s life, the Scots language used within his work, and the importance of Burns to Scotland and our economy.
Along with discovering more about our national bard’s works, the pupils also learned about the various roles that contribute to running a heritage attraction. The Collections Care team taught them how to handle objects from the museum’s displays and how to look out for pests; the gardeners taught them skills in den-building and bushcraft; and volunteer guides inspired the young people to develop their own guided tours.
The project was led by Chris Waddell (Learning Manager at RBBM), who said: ‘Connecting with the young people over the six weeks of workshops has been amazing, and it really supported their learning to have this dedicated time to focus on different areas of Burns’s life and his importance to South Ayrshire.’
Following a month of immersive activities at Brodick Castle, Garden & Country Park, a local Primary 6/7 class created two engaging and informative tours – one focused on the castle’s collections and stories from its past; the other explored Scotland and Arran’s iconic Big 5 wildlife species. The one-off indoor tour was created for family and friends of the pupils taking part on the launch day only, but the Big 5 Trail can be enjoyed by everyone visiting Brodick Country Park.
Sue Mills (Visitor Services Supervisor) was very impressed by the enthusiasm of the young people: ‘It certainly wasn’t just a case of our team teaching them about our heritage; their energy, ideas and imagination gave us some great new perspectives on this amazing place that we care for and protect for the benefit of everyone in Scotland.’
Both these sets of workshops were part of the Workforce for the Future project, funded by the Art Fund and designed to connect museums with young people.
The workshops helped instil good teamwork and communication, and honed their research skills to develop the guided walks – these are all skills that will really set them up in their future careers.
Some of the children knew the country park well, but this was their first time inside the castle. They got the chance to work with objects that visitors don’t usually get to see. Creating the new trails engaged them physically and mentally, and they learned to balance their creative ideas with real-life budgets and timescales –bringing the world of work to life!
Our property teams were supported by Museum Galleries Scotland to deliver the interactive sessions. The Workforce for the Future project supports our vision of providing access to and enjoying Scotland’s special places; it’s about making the Trust a welcoming place for as many people as possible. We introduced these young people to a range of different jobs and roles, so that they can hopefully see themselves as a future employee, visitor and supporter.
Top: Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
Bottom: Brodick Castle
ENGAGEMENT
Providing access and enjoyment for everyone
Enabling growth and diversity of people to access our places
The opening of the Glencoe Greenway has improved safe and sustainable access into the heart of the glen for walkers, cyclists and others.
The Glencoe Greenway is a shared-use path enabling local people and visitors to walk, cycle or wheel into the heart of the glen.
The £1m project involved creating 2km of new ‘all-ability’ pathway from the Glencoe Visitor Centre to the An Torr and Signal Rock car park, where it connects with existing paths into the glen. We also upgraded 2km of existing pathway from the visitor centre towards Glencoe village, through National Trust for Scotland and Forestry & Land Scotland woodlands.
As well as opening up access to the glen to a wider range of users, the project supports our charity’s goal to reduce visitors’ reliance on car travel. Over 2 million vehicles a year drive the 10-mile stretch through Glencoe. Such a volume of traffic inevitably places
pressure on the landscape, as well as the local community who live here year-round. For the first time, we’ve now made it possible for people to walk, cycle, push a buggy or take a wheelchair on a traffic-free path into Glencoe. Visitors can immerse themselves in the sights, sounds, nature, beauty and heritage of this part of the glen, knowing they are also helping to care for it by enjoying it more sustainably.
The new path has been designed to minimise its visual impact on the scenic landscape. It follows the route of the A82 but is separated from the road by hedging and other vegetation. It has a bound gravel surface, the same material as the
glen’s existing low-level path network. There are rest benches along the route and interpretation at the archaeological site of the long-lost historic settlement of Achnacon, one of the townships that inspired the 17th-century turf and creel house reconstruction at the Glencoe Visitor Centre.
One of the first people to try out the new path was Paralympic athlete Callum Deboys. ‘Getting into the mountains can feel unachievable if you have an impairment,’ he said. ‘The unique thing about the Greenway is that it gives people of all abilities the chance to reach the heart of the glen without their cars and experience a sense of being in these magnificent mountains. And what’s more, it’s not an eyesore but blends in nicely with the landscape.’
The Greenway project complements other recent infrastructure improvements in Glencoe NNR. These include a project to address safety and capacity pressure at the busy Coire Gabhail and Coire nan Lochan parking areas overlooking
the Three Sisters, plus various sensitive parking improvements in Glen Etive, including an expanded layby at the famous ‘Skyfall’ viewpoint.
The work has been funded by Transport Scotland through Sustrans Scotland’s Network Development Fund, and the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) which was established by the Scottish Government and managed by VisitScotland on its behalf. The Greenway is the first step towards a long-term ambition to create a continuous traffic-free path the entire length of the glen, and Transport Scotland has commissioned a feasibility study to review the potential for achieving this.
We want everyone to have a positive experience here, and we have provided sensitively designed facilities to empower people to enjoy this special place responsibly while minimising the pressure on this precious landscape. We’re working hard to help nature flourish in Glencoe, and we’re excited for the public to witness the regeneration of the glen’s protected habitats in the years ahead.
Above: Visitors ready to explore the new Glencoe Greenway Left: Callum Deboys
Sustainability
Being a sustainable charity
Growing as a diverse organisation with half a million members
Our membership retention rates are on the rise and above the benchmark average for similar organisations. We interviewed Kerryn Kirkpatrick, Interim Head of Membership, and Molly Gilroy, Interim Membership Marketing Manager, about why and how we’re investing in retention.
Can you summarise the Trust’s membership and retention levels in 2024/25?
Kerryn: By year-end, we had 330,358 members, who contributed £20.3 million to our charity through their membership fees (including Gift Aid). They support us in many other ways too – as advocates, donors, visitors and volunteers – so it’s crucial that we recognise and reward their commitment to the Trust and the places that we all love.
Since 2021, we’ve increased our membership retention rate from 80% (which was already good!) to 83% in 2024/25. Not only is this well ahead of the average rate for similar organisations in the UK, but actually many of these organisations are seeing their retention rates fall – ours has grown.
Molly: Within that 83% figure, we’re very pleased about specific trends. For example, family membership retention improved, especially over the summer 2024 period, reflecting our efforts to inspire families to enjoy our places – such as the Big Scottish Summer map that we sent out with the Summer members’ magazine.
What’s behind the rise in overall retention and how are we investing in it?
Kerryn: For me, the big story on retention is that we are recognising our members’ loyalty, showing how much we value them, and finding ways to enhance the strong connection we have built with them. We want our members to feel like we know them, and we want them to be delighted by their experiences of the Trust.
Molly: We’ve become better at communicating to members how they benefit from supporting our work, and how they’re part of the bigger picture of caring for Scotland. This comes across strongly in our membership and ‘Shared Moments’ campaigns. And we’re also supporting our properties to welcome members and give them a great experience – it’s a collective effort!
Kerryn: We can see from feedback that it’s working. In our members’ survey at the end of 2024, over 75% of respondents said they saw their membership of the Trust as both a ‘ticket’ to our
places and a donation to what we do. They get a personal benefit from their membership and feel good about being part of something bigger.
We’re showing our members that they are valuable; how are we showing them that they are valued too?
Molly: Through loyalty rewards and offers, among other things. We know that members have enjoyed the Bring a Friend for Free voucher they receive when they renew, as well as our exclusive Member Birthday Cake incentive, so we’ve invested in these rewards. The retention rate among members who used both these offers is incredibly high, between 92–94%.
We’ve also created various member offers, such as half-price entry to last winter’s Stitched exhibition at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, and half-price afternoon tea at Mackintosh at the Willow. Uptake of both those offers was very strong, and they show members how much we value them.
You said that members should be delighted by their experiences or interactions with us. How is the Trust investing in that?
Kerryn: Firstly, we invested in extra capacity in 2024/25 in our Supporter Care team, so that we can provide an even better service for supporters. We know from surveys and feedback that supporters prefer to speak directly to someone at the Trust when they call, so we now answer all calls in-house.
Also important is training staff at properties – helping to create understanding of the importance of members and memberships to the Trust, and how they can promote that when people visit.
We want our members and other supporters to feel that they matter – not just to us but to Scotland too.
We’ve talked mainly about retention; what about recruitment – was that positive too?
Kerryn: Yes! We reached our targets on recruitment, and again I think that our membership and ‘Shared Moments’ campaigns were behind this. People want to support us, for the love of Scotland.
Molly: One figure that stands out was a big increase in life memberships in 2024/25, including gift memberships. It shows our causal messaging and campaigns are inspiring people to help us protect Scotland for the long term. Yes, people are interested in days out, but life membership also suggests a deeper engagement with our charitable purpose.
And finally, what’s next? How will the Trust build on this success on retention in 2025/26 and beyond?
Kerryn: When we launched the Building phase of the Trust’s Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone strategy in 2025, we started a membership review, so we can even better serve our existing members and encourage more to join. We’ll press on with this, looking to understand what more we can do to keep members engaged.
It’s about practical details, certainly, but I also come back again and again to the famous Maya Angelou quote about how people will never forget how you make them feel. Our focus on membership retention and recruitment comes down to one key point: we want our members and other supporters to feel that they matter –not just to us but to Scotland too.
Crathes Castle Garden
SUSTAINABILITY
Being a sustainable charity
Becoming financially secure, balancing income with investment
Weddings and holidays are generating valuable income and bringing new audiences to the Edinburgh & East region, finds Caroline Reid, Director of Commercial Enterprises.
If someone told you they were holding their wedding at a National Trust for Scotland property, what type of venue would you first imagine? One of our grand Scottish castles or romantic heritage gardens?
We do indeed offer these venues for weddings – and they are certainly in high demand – but 2024/25 saw a very different type of property emerge as a favourite among couples tying the knot: the Hermitage. Throughout the year, the brilliant team there averaged more than one wedding a week, with 59 in total over the year, reflecting the growth in demand for outdoor weddings in nature.
Other popular spots for wedding ceremonies or photos in our Edinburgh & East region included Alloa Tower and Hill of Tarvit, and we hosted weddings in Edinburgh itself, at the Georgian House and Gladstone’s Land. As one couple at Hill of Tarvit once told us, ‘We loved the idea of having our wedding at a place that felt like being at someone’s home, without actually having it at home!’
Having this diverse product offering for weddings in Edinburgh & East (and other regions too) generates important income for the Trust, with profits directly supporting our broader conservation and engagement work across our treasured places.
Holidays are another important income stream. We currently have 13 holiday properties in Edinburgh & East, from historic apartments on the Royal Mile to one-bedroom country cottages or eightbedroom grand houses. Guests stayed at these properties for over 3,500 nights in 2024/25 and the comments we receive are often wonderful: ‘We decided to stay another two weeks and would have stayed longer if it had been available.’
The importance of these figures and feedback goes well beyond the valuable financial support that weddings and holidays deliver for the Trust; they also bring new audiences to our places. Repeat holiday bookings can be a gateway to long-term support and potential membership or donations; and wedding and holiday guests often become brand advocates, sharing their positive experiences online and increasing our brand reach.
To further support these excellent outcomes for the Trust, we invested across our Edinburgh & East properties in 2024/25, with improvements and upgrades at a number of holiday properties. The Trust’s IT team also expanded the Wi-Fi provision across our holiday homes – a key feature for modern visitors.
I’m grateful to all the property teams who help us provide this valuable income stream for the Trust. They do a marvellous job at looking after wedding couples and holiday guests, and showing these people what a wonderful cause they’re supporting. It’s often the beginning of a beautiful long-term relationship.
Above: The Hermitage © Babe in the Wood Media Right: Turf house, Glencoe NNR
Laura Laycock, Major Gifts Manager, reflects on the generosity and vital contributions of our donors.
Every year the Fundraising team at the Trust feel both humbled and excited by the generosity of our donors. From individuals and corporate partners to charitable trusts and public bodies, their support is incredible.
As a result, and including some exceptional legacies and one-off donations, our fundraising income in 2024/25 topped £26 million. Again and again, we have felt deeply honoured that so many people want to support our cause.
One exciting aspect of our fundraising in 2024/25 is that our donors chose to support so many different projects, properties and areas of work –well over 30 in total. This demonstrates not only the diversity of our conservation, engagement and sustainability activity, but also the breadth of our donors’ enthusiasm for our work and their love of Scotland.
There was support for natural heritage conservation across Scotland from organisations such as NatureScot and players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Thousands of individuals kindly donated to our Storm Éowyn emergency appeal, the Footpath Fund or our Donate a Daffodil appeal; and many others gave major gifts for seabirds and Mar Lodge Estate, to name just a few.
Meanwhile, our built heritage teams were grateful to a host of donors, including Historic Environment Scotland, our Members’ Centres & Friends’ Groups, NTS Foundation USA and those who left us gifts in their Wills. These donations supported vital building conservation activity across Scotland, from St Kilda to the Bachelors’ Club in Ayrshire and Barry Mill in Angus.
HSBC UK continued their backing for the Threave Landscape Restoration Project and helped us to undertake conservation work on Iona. The Scottish Government, via the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund and Sustrans, made possible major projects at both Staffa and Glencoe, and The Glenlivet enabled us to explore the archaeology of illicit whisky production across Scotland.
It’s not just the range of projects supported that is so important for our work to care for and share Scotland’s most precious assets, it’s also our variety of donors. By structuring our Fundraising team to ensure access to a wide mix of funding, including legacies, trusts & foundations, grants, fundraising appeals & products, corporate partnerships and major gifts, we will build our financial resilience.
If you donated to the Trust in 2024/25 and I have not had space to mention you here, I sincerely apologise. We are truly thankful to every single person who continued to support our charity, for the benefit of current and future generations. Thank you!
SUSTAINABILITY
Working towards a more sustainable visitor economy
The progress we made on climate and environment in 2024/25 will have farreaching positive impacts for Scotland, explains Harriet Cross, Environment and Climate Change Manager.
As Scotland’s largest conservation charity, we are well aware of our opportunities to inspire positive environmental action; we also know that everything we do impacts the environment.
For many years we have taken steps to reduce these impacts, but in 2024/25 we moved much further forward, with the launch of our new Climate and Environment Policy. This gives everyone at the Trust a clear framework for reducing the emissions and negative impacts related to our activities and the land and buildings we manage.
The policy is supported by a Climate and Environment Action Plan, providing detailed targets, timescales and actions. Meanwhile, new policies on Sustainable Procurement and Sustainable Transport will help our teams embed sustainability into their daily activity and decision-making.
Another huge step forward last year was a project with specialist consultants to analyse all the emissions from Trust activities, such as investments, food & beverage, procurement and heating across 2023/24. This included Scope 1 (direct emissions), Scope 2 (indirect emissions, such as from energy purchased) and Scope 3 (emissions associated with our supply chain). Armed with baseline figures, the teams involved in these areas have now been able to define their ambitions for reducing those emissions.
Through that work and our deeper understanding of what action is needed, we have updated our target to reduce our organisational emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3, excluding visitors and land-based emissions) by 40% by 2031 against the 2023 baseline. We are also committed to developing a more accurate understanding
of emissions and the potential for carbon sequestration associated with the 76,000 hectares of land in our care.
When I first joined the Trust in 2023, we embarked on a major energy assessment, under the Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme (ESOS). Completed in March 2024, the final report showed us energy-saving opportunities across our properties, including insulation, training and real-time monitoring of energy consumption. This feeds into a more integrated approach to decarbonising our wider operations, helping us put the right training, planning and capacity in place to reduce our emissions and meet carbon targets. We now have a dedicated budget committed to improving how energy is managed across the Trust, including meter upgrades and site-level interventions.
In terms of ensuring environmental sustainability is embedded across Trust activity, a personal highlight was our Rangers Conference in February 2025, where teams from across our charity shared best practice, updates and plans. Every aspect of the event design put sustainability at its heart, from using local food produce to how people travelled there.
Another exciting development is the ambition to embed sustainability into the Fyvie Castle Masterplan. Through a recent learning exchange with the National Trust’s Renewable Energy
Programme team, the project is now benefitting from their advice on different renewables. We will continue to forge partnerships with organisations who share our values.
Across the Trust, we are very aware of the complexity involved in implementing our new policies and action plan. In addition to caring for 76,000 hectares of land, our charity is privileged to be responsible for over 1,400 structures, 300,000 collections items, and a diverse range of habitats and species, which in turn involves a mix of activities spanning construction, hospitality, office work, filming and farming.
Hitting our emissions targets is going to involve some difficult decisions and choices, but it’s exciting to be part of this and to support the Trust on our journey, working closely with my colleagues across our charity and with Sarah Magee, our new Climate and Environment Officer.
Together, we’re already making significant progress on embedding climate action across our teams and properties, with Sarah ensuring that environmental-awareness training becomes part of the staff offer and that an effective engagement strategy for our Climate and Environment Action Plan is put in place. Watch this space!
Our Climate and Environment Policy: six key principles
We are committed to protecting the environment through our work as a conservation charity and have set out our responsibilities as a good environmental steward. This is built on six key environmental principles:
1 2 3 4 5 6
Protection and restoration – enhancing the quality of the environment in our care and across Scotland
Reduction – reducing resource consumption and emissions
Compliance – meeting all our environmental obligations and keeping appropriate records
Measuring, reporting and improving – using the baseline we established in 2024/25 to help us meet our goals
Building resilience – adapting our places and processes to become more resilient to climate change
Supporting, engaging and influencing – working with others to educate and advocate for best practice, climate mitigation and adaptation
The policy was drafted by our Climate and Environment Group with extensive consultation. We are grateful to all colleagues who contributed their experience, expertise and ideas during this process, helping us protect Scotland’s heritage.
SUSTAINABILITY
Investing in our people – the workforce at our places
The Values Awards recognise our employees and volunteers who have been nominated by their colleagues for exemplifying and embodying our charity’s values of being Brave, Caring, Curious, Inclusive and Vibrant.
In 2024, our first in-person awards ceremony took place in December at Mackintosh at the Willow in Glasgow. Our nominees were joined by Phil Long and Jackie Bird – the Trust’s Chief Executive and President – who attended the event to hand out the prizes. Everyone then enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea.
In addition to the judging panel, colleagues across the Trust also voted for the winners in 2024.
The winners were:
Team Award
Fyvie Gardening team and Fyvie Garden volunteers
The team displayed great resilience and positivity in dealing with the impact of storm damage on estate paths, the Racquets Court, the historic garden wall and much-loved plants.
Brave
Shaila Rao, Conservation Manager, Mar Lodge Estate NNR
Shaila’s long-term commitment has brought native woodlands back to life, setting a powerful example for ecological restoration in Scotland.
Caring
Nathan Cridland, Specialist Gardener, Canna
Nathan’s commitment to the community has been crucial in maintaining Canna’s lifeline ferry service, managing the island’s harbour and overseeing visiting yachts, all in addition to his gardening duties.
Curious
Bryan Dale, Volunteer Guide, Preston Mill
Bryan’s energy, deep understanding of the mill and great sense of humour hugely enhance the visitor experience at Preston Mill.
Inclusive
Andrew Hinson, Head Gardener, Greenbank Garden
Andrew was the first person in the Trust to host a Career Ready internship for young people – we will host ten in the coming year. He took on two interns at Greenbank last year and has acted as an informal mentor to other Career Ready mentors.
Vibrant
Elizabeth Fairlie, Volunteer Guide, Hill of Tarvit
Liz’s creativity and enthusiasm adds to the visitor experience at Hill of Tarvit in many ways – from her stunning flower displays to her portrayal of historical figures in public events and her warm welcome to new volunteers.
Special Commendation Award
Alistair Mackenzie, Conservation Volunteer, North East
Alistair devoted 34 years to our charity before announcing his retirement last year. He supported gardens and nature work at many places across Aberdeenshire and beyond, and was always willing to learn new skills.
Sam North Award for Excellence in Health & Safety
In 2024, we introduced this new award in recognition of Sam’s unique contribution to the health and safety culture and leadership at the Trust. The winner was the Little Oaks natural play area at Drum Castle, a project led by Laurie Cassells and James Henderson.
BRAVE CARING CURIOUS
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Through our Engaging Communities project, we have deepened our community connections at different properties. Community Engagement Officer
Sarah Eggleton explains how this was achieved at Fyvie Castle.
My first task was to understand, through visitor data, who was – or rather, wasn’t – visiting Fyvie Castle. I then built links with some local community organisations who could help us connect with under-represented groups, including elderly people, people with long-term health conditions or disabilities, and lower-income families. We wanted to understand what prevented them from visiting Fyvie and how we could change that.
From early in the project, wellbeing was a key theme. The Trust has a strategic objective for encouraging a greater diversity of people and communities to access our properties to improve their health and wellbeing; and we thought wellbeing would resonate with these local groups.
One stand-out success has been our weekly Health Walk: an easy circuit around Loch of Fyvie followed by a cup of tea and chat at the castle. This was initially a pilot initiative but has now become an ongoing activity.
During the pilot, we carried out participant research and found that people really did feel better through connecting with others and being active. Local people of all ages join us week after week, and we’re delighted that these walks are creating social connections as well as a connection to Fyvie.
We’ve also worked with Grow @ The Vinery, who deliver training, learning and wellbeing for community members, including school leavers, in Banff. Our activities have included wellbeing workshops and horticulture work experience; gratifyingly, many participants return after their first visit, expressing an interest in volunteering.
With other groups too, from schools to carers, running a range of activities and events has helped us understand how we can draw different people to Fyvie and make them feel not just welcome but connected.
As we embark on the multi-year conservation project at Fyvie Castle, these deeper insights and new connections with local communities will be invaluable. The idea of partnership working and reciprocal benefit is now baked into the project.
Fyvie was not the only place where the Engaging Communities project built new connections and understanding. My three colleagues at the Hill House, Tenement House and Torridon also created their own activities for different communities –from youth groups to organisations that support diversity in the outdoors.
We’re grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting the project, and we’re excited about what comes next: using what we’ve learned to shape how we engage with communities at other places we care for, knowing that it makes a tangible difference to people’s wellbeing.
Mackintosh at the Willow
Supporting the Trust
Support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund has been crucial to many Trust projects, including our new and ambitious Mackintosh Illuminated initiative. Ali MacLeod, Head of Fundraising and Philanthropy, celebrates a decades-long partnership.
Towards the end of 2024, we were delighted to win a generous £1.1m package of development funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, to support our ambitious initiative to celebrate the genius of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald.
This injection of support will help us progress our plans for the major £20m Mackintosh Illuminated project, ahead of a full application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2026.
The development funding is the first stage towards a total £8.5m award from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and came just under a year after we added Mackintosh at the Willow to our portfolio. Our acquisition of this spectacular Glasgow tearoom in early 2024 was also supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Through Mackintosh Illuminated, we aim to make Mackintosh and Macdonald’s work better known, both internationally and locally. Our charity is incredibly privileged to care for two of their architectural and design masterpieces, and we want to ensure
their future. We also want to share these places with more diverse audiences, including through online resources and an expanded programme of local community and education work.
Vital to the project, and made possible by the funding, is the continuation of conservation work at the Hill House, resolving the long-standing damp issue and repairing the unique exterior and interiors ahead of removing the protective Box in 2028.
In Mackintosh Illuminated, we are building on learnings from our recent Engaging Communities project, also supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Funding of £245,000 for a 12-month project helped us develop a new methodology and framework for community engagement, through which we will better understand the communities around our properties, plan activities and overcome barriers to engagement.
We ran pilot projects across four very different Trust properties over 2024/25 – the Hill House, Tenement House, Torridon and Fyvie Castle – to work with different groups on inclusion, access, relevance and excitement. (Read more about how we did this on page 41, where Sarah Eggleton, Community Engagement Officer at Fyvie Castle, shares her highlights of the project.)
The relationship between our charity and The National Lottery Heritage Fund goes back almost to the launch of the National Lottery itself in 1994. Many of the incredible places we care for
have benefitted since that time, and we are very grateful to the National Lottery players who make that possible.
One of these places was Mar Lodge Estate. It was thanks to a significant donation from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (along with generous support from private donors like the Easter Charitable Trust) that we were able to acquire this vast estate in 1995. Since then, we have embarked on large-scale conservation and restoration projects to protect the estate’s nature, beauty and heritage for future generations.
Three decades on from that donation, we remain grateful for the support, and we were delighted that, when the National Lottery marked its 30th birthday in November 2024, it chose Shaila Rao (Conservation Manager at Mar Lodge Estate) as one of the ‘Game Changers’ highlighted in its celebrations.
As we think ahead to our centenary in 2031, we are working hard to ensure we are building an organisation that is fit for the future, continuing to inspire our existing audiences and reaching out to new ones. As an independent charity, it is vital we have the resources to protect Scotland’s amazing heritage. Through their support for the Engaging Communities and Mackintosh Illuminated projects, The National Lottery Heritage Fund is helping us do exactly that. We’re hugely excited about what this will allow us to achieve.
Above: Mar Lodge Estate NNR
Thanking the players of the National Lottery
Across the Trust, we’re always pleased to show how much we value The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support for our projects and activities.
One way we do that is by taking part in National Lottery Open Week each spring. This offers anyone with a valid online or retail National Lottery ticket, Scratchcard or Instant Win Game a low-cost day out.
In March 2024, 23 of our properties participated in Open Week, from Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire to Greenbank Garden in Glasgow. Throughout the week, National Lottery ticket-holders enjoyed free entry to the properties. As well as showing our appreciation for their support, this also attracts new audiences to our remarkable places and stories.
Left: The Hill House
Financial summary
For the year ended 28 February 2025
Analysis of sources of income
Analysis
Our financial reserves
In addition to our income, the Trust holds a range of funds. Some funds are restricted for particular uses and some are available to spend on any charitable purpose, which we call the General Income Fund (GIF).
In common with other charities that have a broad conservation remit, the high costs of conservation activity, and the fact that most properties do not generate enough income to cover their considerable operating and heritage care costs, means that in most years the Trust operates at an operational deficit. When this happens, the deficit is covered by the reserves held in the GIF. This hasn’t been necessary in 2024/25, because the Trust generated a surplus.
The Trust’s reserves policy ensures we have enough unrestricted reserves required to cover six months of budgeted operational costs. For the year 2024/25 the budgeted minimum target for the GIF was £33.8 million.
Financial summary
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
CONSERVATION
ENGAGEMENT
SUSTAINABILITY
Our heritage assets are in a stable and improving condition.
We are known as a leading provider of inspiring visitor experiences in Scotland to a diverse audience of over 6 million visitors a year.
By 2032, half a million members will have supported over £100 million of investment in conservation, access and learning.
We have reduced our environmental impact and will be carbon negative by 2031.
Conservation Performance Index (CPI) 1 – tracking the % of a sample of heritage assets in a good condition
visitors across all Trust properties within the year
score out of 10, derived from property visitor surveys across the year
Number of members at year end
CROSS-CUTTING**
visitor
We are financially secure, balancing our income with over £100 million of capital investment over the lifetime of this strategy, while maintaining enough reserves to ensure our long-term resilience. Fundraising performance measured by income from donations and appeals
Our volunteers and staff are equipped with the systems and skills they need.
Financial performance against budgeted operational deficit/ surplus after depreciation
Workforce Engagement Index, tracking the % of the workforce who recommend the Trust as a good place to work
*RAG: red = behind target and requires corrective action; amber = just behind target; green = on or exceeding target
** Cross-cutting KPIs underpin all three strategic pillars.
1 The Conservation Performance Index (CPI) is used to measure how well we are putting conservation into practice at our properties. In 2024/25 we extended our coverage of built heritage properties, reflecting the need to tackle maintenance needs, and climate change impacts. The score for 2024/25 is unrepresentatively low as it incorporates a substantial number of building health checks where we were prioritising repairs. In future years we will be using a more representative sample of our historic buildings.
Looking ahead
Performance over the past year shows the Trust has continued to recover from the impact of the pandemic, as the Recovery & Planning phase of our ten-year strategy ends, and we embark on the Building phase.
The Annual Operating Plan for 2024/25 was based around continued recovery, with plans for major capital projects and investment in our people resource.
Despite the challenging external environment, the Trust is planning for continued growth over the next three-year planning period to 2027/28, reflecting our excellent value for money, operational opportunity, and conservation investment need.
We remain positive, optimistic and well-positioned to leverage the Trust’s strong brand and the beautiful places in our care
As we conclude the third year of our ten-year Corporate Strategy and move into the Building phase, the latest financial and capital plans cover the period to 2027/28.
This longer-term view allows us to plan and fundraise for future projects, which is essential for both the long-term maintenance of the Trust’s assets, and for investing in new initiatives that support our strategic goals and encourage repeat visitation and membership support.
A number of capital conservation projects have also commenced, or worked towards their completion, in 2024/25. We have planned over 90 individual projects in 2025/26, ranging from the large investments of Mackintosh Illuminated
and Fyvie Castle to smaller developments all across the country.
We remain positive, optimistic and wellpositioned to leverage the Trust’s strong brand and the beautiful places in our care as we move into the Building phase of the Trust’s ten-year strategy, and towards our charity’s centenary in 2031.
Sincere thanks to our generous members, donors and funders for their support for our charity and our work to care for, share and speak up for Scotland’s heritage.
Thank you for your support
The generosity of our supporters, and the tireless work from our staff and volunteers, enables us to care for our special places and share Scotland’s heritage for everyone to enjoy, now and in the future. Thank you! Find out more at nts.org.uk/support-us
Young visitors enjoy Playful Summer at Newhailes