A sweet twist to this tale: when Husband started to flag our 18 year old son, who spent a childhood on & off the GOSH blood cancer ward, ran alongside his dad, in jeans and anorak, & kept him running until he saw the finish. I feel like a non-elite version of the Brownlees’ Mam.

Can I just say thanks to everyone here who lets me know when they’ve had a good scone or bit of cake at a National Trust place (apparently Winkworth’s sausage rolls are enjoying an epochal moment). It’s v reassuring, especially on bleak weekends. There’ll always be an England 🫡

Husband just did a marathon for Great Ormond St. They saw one of our sons through aggressive leukaemia & the other through complications of extreme prematurity. Legends. As is he, for doing it in 3h17 at his age. Nice to see London streets being pounded for good causes today.

Telegraph headline this morning: ‘National Trust branded a ‘disgrace’ for tearing down flag.’ What is disgraceful about protecting the nation’s monuments from harm? They belong to past, current and future generations. They are protected from alteration and damage by law.

Also. FAO Daily Telegraph: this is the Penshaw Monument, not the Pembroke Monument. Penshaw is in the North East of England. Pembroke is in West Wales. They’re about 350 miles apart.

Telegraph headline feels inflammatory - there's no tearing, just careful removal of a flag from a grade 1 listed historic monument that belongs to the nation.

Steve isn’t just any beaver. He’s a National Trust beaver 🦫 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Something to warm the hearts of all those who like a gentle walk, a warm scone, a kindly atmosphere and a nice sit down: the young people are coming National Trust heartened by surge in young members www.thetimes.com/article/7cd8...

Thank you for all the suggestions for attracting more hot men to the National Trust. My favourite so far was getting Hot Priest to come and hide out in some of our priest holes. If anyone knows Andrew Scott please can you raise the idea with him - just casually.

Customer feedback this week; ‘Please can you get some more diversity at the National Trust by encouraging more hot men to visit.’ Ideas for how we do this v welcome. Nothing too racy please - we are the National Trust not the National Tryst.

Of the many things one might agree with Winston Churchill about, booze and jumpsuits are near the top for me. I’m delighted that the National Trust looks after this fabulous velvet number at his home in Kent. Chartwell is a great day out.

This week on Instagram the National Trust launched a good news account. According to our sources millions of us urgently need it. Our first good news is about seahorses. And then there’s the kestrels. Pop across there and looks cos there’s also guillemots. Honestly.

The warm feeling when you don’t see a very old friend as much as you used to and then he asks you to be emergency contact for his cocker spaniel. (And then you work out it’s your husband he actually trusts in emergencies).

Ladies is there anything nicer than sharing a hotel room with your dearest sisters and getting ready together?

“People were worried it would be sold to developers. It was so touching that local people came and donated, some just coins or a fiver. It meant so much to them.” How the British coast was kept accessible to all, by thousands of ordinary people. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Uh oh. Big screen in the National Trust office is now streaming PuffinCam. You can watch all the live action on the Farne Islands from a desk in Swindon. How are we supposed to work with this going on? It’s like Oscars night on a loop, but with better outfits and manners.

I woke up in a Sussex hotel and this was outside my window. It felt like home

You’ve got to hand it to Tupperware. So versatile. National Trust rangers do this year’s puffin weigh-in on the Farne Islands

When the Sycamore Gap tree was cut down in 2023 it felt inevitable that the Daily Telegraph would publish this headline. You can publish anything if you add ‘locals say.’

This By Mark Brown

No matter how busy you are, you should always take 5 minutes to stop and watch a nest of great-tits leaving home. With the Mam frantically shouting instructions and everyone bumping into things. What a privilege and a joy.

The analysis by Whitehall officials provides no data or research to back up the government’s central argument that it is environmental legislation that holds up building. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I have just learned that today is Sauvignon Blanc Day. I can’t believe the National Trust doesn’t celebrate this in some way 🧐

Oh! Nigel Havers is also a Londoner who taps on people’s car windows and asks them to switch off their engines and gets told to fuck off. I no longer feel alone. I am among the stars www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ap...

Financial independence among civil society organisations is paramount when they come under pressure. Many good ones in the UK have found themselves unable to resist pressure cos of finance. A lesson for our sector - take care of your fundraisers & commercial teams www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

That episode of Friends when Monica’s credit cards are stolen and the bills show that the thief has a better social life than her. Well my air pods were stolen recently. I keep checking them on findmy. Right now they’re out on Great Titchfield Street while I’m home reading.

Overseas pressure groups targeting civil society in the UK is something that urgently needs more scrutiny. The National Trust has frequently been campaigned against via a group whose directors and funders are thousands of miles away. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

I’m being offered ‘a bunch of fresh perspectives’ by the Telegraph. I almost spat out my morning cup of wokery and licence fee rage. .

Yep. Depressing. You’d think we could at least have sovereignty over our own astroturf.

“These demands to remove & restrict books are not the result of any grassroots or popular sentiment…The majority are now originating from well-funded, organised groups and movements…” Sounds familiar to anyone who’s been dragged into UK culture wars too. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

I trust the nation followed Mr Churchill’s advice today 🫡 On a day like this it is every British man and woman’s duty to visit a National Trust property and drink tea.

Is there anything more cheering than a visit from a neighbour bearing rhubarb?

Massive congratulations to the milnesium tardigradum, winner of Invertebrate of the Year 2025. Wish I’d put money on it. This creature has endured all five previous planetary extinction events, so now feels like one of its epochs. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Whey this is a great picture PA Media

Been on a train from Penzance for ages. And pretty much everyone who’s got on has urgently needed to start eating sandwiches, crisps and sausage rolls. Is this Britishness? Like, people need to eat but every train journey seems to be this way, no matter what time of day.

‘Your actions were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for.’ Bravo. We need more of this from judges when sentencing people. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

We stand/hang with the bats. Treasury accused of ‘being nasty’ to bats in pursuit of growth www.thetimes.com/article/0800...

This is brilliant news! The UK’s first stork village. (*for regular and older readers, this is nothing to do with margarine and woke scones) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

“We gather at night… which is when art thrives.” ❤️ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Proud that the National Trust did the grovelling on behalf of the nation. But the beavers actually came from Scotland and demanded tickets for Deacon Blue at the O2, not Abba Voyage. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Damn that clause that says you can't be a competition winner if you're an employee. A puffin-watching National Trust cottage trip to the Farne Islands is surely worth resigning for.

The Telegraph’s been reproducing versions of this same story for years. Wokeness and a ‘recipe for a crisis’ in membership. But National Trust member retention is higher than comparator organisations despite the cost of living crisis, and visitor numbers have been increasing.

I tied these ribbons to the railings today outside what was HMP Holloway. There is no other sign at the site to remind people that a thousand suffragettes were imprisoned here and some were tortured. #InternationalWomensDay

One thing you learn from a career in heritage: sometimes you have to make your own memorials. Today I went with my sister to the site that was HMP Holloway. Where a thousand suffragettes were imprisoned & some tortured. You’d never know from the hoardings #InternationalWomensDay

Today a walk to the bulldozed and rebuilt site of HMP Holloway where our sisters suffered. I often think of them when I’m dashing past so today I’m going to stop and maybe find a place to leave something purple. Happy International Women’s Day.

This is SO wonderful. 4 beavers and the National Trust made history today. And we were all glad. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

National Trust membership for a family costs £14.05 a month. A Telegraph subscription costs £104 a month. And don’t get me started on the quality of the product.

As the Daily Mail reports today, beavers protect farmland from flooding. But the Telegraph reports wild beaver release as ‘a new front against farmers.’ Once again attacking natural solutions. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02...