Climate change is already damaging the nature, beauty and heritage we care for. Without deep and sustained cuts to emissions, nature faces an even more perilous future and the places people love will continue to suffer. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A grand piano with a history as dramatic as any Victorian novel has returned to Cragside, Northumberland: buff.ly/WjMmbZX Once owned by Arabella Goddard – hailed in her time as “The Queen of Pianists” – the piano has survived shipwrecks, scandal, and even a hostage situation in a Sydney theatre!

We've just celebrated 10 years of Trust10. Our free monthly 10k Trust10 trail runs are a great way to exercise in nature: buff.ly/oYKF3u0 The medals are pretty special too. They're made from biodegradable paper embedded with wildflower seeds, so you can plant your medal and watch it grow!

It’s #LincolnshireDay, so we’re off to Gunby Hall to explore the site of a moated manor at the south of the Estate. Bratoft Moated Manor was the seat of the Markham family from 1409 to 1538. In 1495 the lands of Bratoft and Gunby and the moated site at Bratoft came into the family. 🧵

Did you know that together, all the balconies in Greater Manchester cover an area the size of more than 33 football pitches? Greening just a quarter of these could host enough flowers to support 1.4 million pollinator visits. 🐝

Consider this your sign to vote in our Annual General Meeting! Make a difference by letting us know what’s important to you. You have until midnight on 31 October: buff.ly/GGr65eT

We were excited to welcome Time Team back last week to Branodunum Roman Fort on the Norfolk Coast. Geophysics experts used Ground Penetrating Radar on parts of the site and now have a huge amount of data to analyse and interpret. We look forward to finding out what they found in the new year.

The katsura tree has to be smelled to be believed! In early autumn, it emits the enticing scent of burnt toffee or candy floss. A chemical compound known as meltol is the cause, released as the leaves fall and break down. 🍂

Twenty years since this... 📍Pride and Prejudice (2005), filmed at Stourhead, Wiltshire

Asters or Michaelmas daisies provide vibrant, colourful blooms well into autumn and are a vital source of nectar for bees and butterflies at this time of year. Named after the Christian feast of St. Michael (Michaelmas), celebrated on 29 September, look out for them flowering near you.

Good morning. The kettle's on. What is everyone having?

Is trail running your thing? Fancy doing it around an ancient World Heritage Site or through varied and rugged landscapes? Try the Trust10 Ultra! Find out more about your nearest Trust10, and raise money for a good cause along the way: buff.ly/liNEgv6 Photo: Chris Lacey

Today, two years on from the illegal felling of the Sycamore Gap tree, we're announcing a new, major creative commission. We're looking for ideas on how to breathe new life into the wood saved from the felled tree, and you can get involved. Learn more here: buff.ly/RBYUuRY Photo: John Millar

That 'just finished a longer than expected autumn walk and need to find the café ' feeling.

It's been a bumper harvest at places we care for, with crops ripening weeks earlier than normal after a dry summer - apples and pumpkins especially in abundance! Photos: Barry Mitchell, Karen Legg, Paul Harris, Barry Mitchell

Rutting season is upon us. Our stags will be staking their claims for females, often fighting aggressively, wailing and grunting as they go, most of the action will take place at dawn. Enjoy the show - but please remember to watch from a safe distance! Photo: Mark Singleton at Purbeck

Tune into Radio 3 this Sunday at 5pm to hear our Research Officer Daisy speaking about this fabulous exhibition and the 500-year-old music that it's uncovered - and hear the music sung by the @exeter.ac.uk Chapel Choir. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Find out more about some of London’s oldest pubs - including our very own George Inn - in this new article by @jpwarchaeology.bsky.social, cheers! 🍻

A reminder that nature is so wonderfully quirky - check out the bird's nest fungi spotted in Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)!

Leaves changing colour, misty mornings or fantastical fungi – what makes you feel like autumn has arrived?

Check out what archaeologist Angus and his team of volunteers have been uncovering on excavation at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire 👇 🔎 A decorated flagon imported from Cologne, featuring tiny warrior heads, perhaps smashed during a lively 17th-century party!

Raise your glasses to those who answered correctly. 🍷 This is a wine cooler or cellarette, dating to around 1770.

Good news 🥳 For the 3rd year in a row, since the 2023 project to lower the sea walls and create new saltmarsh, surveys at Northey Island have shown an increase in fish such as sand smelt and bass - an essential food for other fish, mammals and birds on the island and the wider Blackwater Estuary.

This can be found in the study at Belton House, Lincolnshire but do you know what it is?

Big news from #OutintheField at the Walled Garden excavations at Stourhead! ⛏ The team, led by @nationaltrust.org.uk archaeologist Steve, have uncovered a 19th-century cast iron stove, sitting in its original spot - the cellar of the pine house. 🧵

It's a bumper year for apples and pumpkins. Despite the drought and record-breaking hot summer, many of these crops are ripening weeks earlier than usual. At Wimpole Estate we're hoping for over six tonnes of apples, which will be pressed into juice, while still leaving plenty for wildlife.

Here's the answer to a very important question*: buff.ly/A8WQrby (*The question being 'where are the best places to find champion conkers?')

Vote for future generations, vote for the places you love, vote to make a difference. Have your say in our Annual General Meeting before midnight on 31 October: buff.ly/xI01XbS

Looking for a new challenge to get active and spend time in nature? Try the Trust10 Ultra! Run 10km per month for 10 months and raise £100 for your favourite National Trust place. Find out more and sign up here: buff.ly/liNEgv6 Photo: Chris Lacey

Happy first day of autumn 🍂

Archaeologist, Angus, shares his top three finds from the big dig at Wimpole Estate's parterre: - decorated flagon imported from Cologne, featuring tiny warrior heads - Tudor pipkin (three-legged cooking pot) still marked with the potter’s thumbprint - metal hooked tag once used to fasten clothing

Beware the guard cat at Chartwell in Kent! Jock VII is the latest in a line of ginger felines to take up residence at Sir Winston Churchill's family home.

Someone is showing off! Check out the colourful seasonal display at Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire.

Painter: 'Yes, of course I've seen a Persian cat before' Cat owner: 'You're not going to give them a human face, are you?' Painter: 'Never!'

The mental health benefits of being in nature are widely known, but did you know art and heritage can offer similar restorative effects?

Asters add a burst of colour to the cloudiest of days. At Upton House and Gardens, Warwickshire, they take centre stage in September with their vibrant purple petals.

From the gardens of Benthall Hall in Shropshire to the Atlas Mountains, George Maw (1832-1912) left a remarkable legacy as a Victorian botanist, artist, and plant collector. Autumn-flowering crocuses at Benthall highlight Maw's passion, documented in his 1886 book 'A Monograph of the Genus Crocus.'

"There is something special about the unbridled joy that kids take from being in nature... ...but nature isn’t always accessible to them. It depends almost entirely on your postcode." Read more here:

Could this be the dream home office?

Good news in from National Trust Dunwich Heath 🥳 Three years after extreme heat and prolonged drought devasted the heathland, thanks to careful management, the heather is continuing to bounce back, as well as the wildlife that depend on it. 👇

Check out this gourd-geous display. These knitted, crocheted and felted pumpkins at Charlecote Park sustainably celebrate the autumn season and were handmade by local community groups, staff and volunteers. 📸 Camille Francois

Our brains are wired to feel good when we see the fractal patterns of trees. Make some time for tree gazing if you can. It will be worth it. Photo: Mike Selby

Happy birthday to the Queen of Crime! Agatha Christie was born on this day in 1890. We're proud to care for Greenway, Devon. It's where Agatha and her family would spend summers and Christmases, relaxing by the river, playing croquet and clock golf, and reading her latest mystery to their guests.

Well done to those who correctly identified these as belonging to Winston Churchill.

Time to cast your vote – help shape the future of the National Trust ahead of our Annual General Meeting (AGM): buff.ly/kmcNfha It’s your opportunity, as a member, to tell us what matters to you. Make sure you have your say before midnight on 31 Oct!

That feeling when you slide your feet into a cosy slipper. Who knows who this pair belongs to?

Caption this 👇

Don’t go chasing waterfalls – unless you’re a grey wagtail that is. After restoration work, Pulham Falls at Sheffield Park and Garden, East Sussex are now flowing daily to help oxygenate the connected lakes. This supports a thriving aquatic ecosystem, and has birds flocking to feast at the falls.

Meet Steve*. He's looking for love but can't find it near his home on the Wallington Estate, Northumberland. He's been covertly sneaking out of the enclosure on his quest for a partner. There aren't any other beavers nearby so he's now moving to Wales with a new mate who has been found for him.

If you’re going to watch Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, in cinemas now, see if you can spot two of the places we care for on the big screen.