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  1. English Heritage says record numbers of families visited English Heritage sites in 2023

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    English Heritage care for over 400 properties in England, and last year, they welcomed more families to their historic venues than ever before.

    Over 550,000 families visited English Heritage sites in 2032 – this is the highest figure since records began.  What’s more, the number was up by 54% over the last 10 years. 

     

    Stonehenge in Wiltshire saw its best year ever in 2023 for families coming to visit.
    Stonehenge in Wiltshire saw its best year ever in 2023 for families coming to visit. 
    It saw family visits go up by 23% year on year. 

    Nine historic castles, palaces and abbeys saw their highest ever number of visitors in 2023, and 10 more had their best years in over a decade.

    English Heritage is thrilled to see so many families enjoying the sites where history happened. 

    Tintagel Castle in Cornwall had its best ever figures for the third year in a row.  Their numbers were up by nearly 20% in 2023, compared to the year before.

    Helmsley Castle is in North Yorkshire - visit it to find out how it evolved over 900 years.
    Helmsley Castle is in North Yorkshire - visit it to find out how it evolved over 900 years.

    Other castles also had a great year:  Helmsley in North Yorkshire, Deal in Kent, Portland in Dorset and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight all had their best ever years.  Leicestershire’s Kirby Muxloe, Pevensey (Sussex) and Stokesay (Shropshire) all had their best years in over 10 years.

    Nine of the properties with their highest ever visitor numbers were connected to Henry VIII.   The castles build in Deal, Portland and Yarmound were all build by Henry VIII as coastal fortresses.   His childhood home was Eltham Palace in London, where visitor numbers were up 9%. 

    Gainsborough Hall is one of the biggest and best-preserved medieval manor houses in England.
    Gainsborough Hall is one of the biggest and best-preserved medieval manor houses in England.
    It's in Lincolnshire, and it hosted Henry VIII several times.
    Catherine Parr lived there as a girl. 

    Roman sites saw numbers go up as well, such as the Richborough Roman Fort  and Amphitheatre in Kent, which welcomed 145% more visitors than it had before it closed for a two year conservation project.   And visitors flocked to Aldborough Roman Site and Wroxeter Roman City in Shropshire had their best visitor figures since 1999 and 2011 respectfully

    And monastic sites did well, too, such as Furness Abbey (Cumbria), Lindisfarne Prior (Northumberland) and St Augustine’s Abbey in Kent had their highest visitor numbers in over 20 years.   Battle Abbey (Sussex), Tynemouth Priory (Tyne and Wear) and Hailes Abbey (Gloucestershire) had strong years, too.

    SPECIAL OFFER ON NEW GIFT AND ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS

    You can see there’s lots to see and experience, and enjoy and discover – and English Heritage have 15% off new gift and annual memberships until the 31 December 2024.  So don’t wait any longer – give a gift membership or take one out yourself!  Use the code  EHAFF2024  to get your 15% off**.  

    **This code EHAFF2024 is valid until 31st December 2024 and for use on new  membership purchases only.  Annual Direct Debit only. 

  2. How about a subscription to historic newspapers to read online?

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    The British Newspaper Archive keeps expanding week by week! 

    It's a partnership with the British Library and the aim was to digitise up to 40 million pages from the British Library's collection over a 10 year period.  Well, it's gone way past that - it now has an incredible 72 million pages to explore!

    The collection is just staggering.  And the joy of it is that you don't need to leave the house to view it all - you can do it from home, perfect as we approach that time of year when the nights are drawing in and it starts to get colder.

    I love the fact that you can delve into all aspects of life and society to see what people were concerned about at the time;  you can search up births, marriages and deaths, and find out what life was like for your ancestors!  What would they have been talking about at the dinner table?  What would they have been concerned about? What was being advertised, what was popular? What social events were taking place that they might have gone to?  How did they fill any spare time they had? All fascinating stuff, giving you a great insight into life in the past.

    Newspapers give us clues and hints as to what people thought was important and really can add to our knowledge of the fabric of life and the glue that held it together.

    This is a great gift for anyone who loves immersing themselves into history, even without leaving the house.  I've got a subscription and it's amazing how easy it is to get so involved in what you're looking at that you go from one thing to another on it without realising how the time is going!

    They now have over 90 MILLION pages (Updated March 2025) dating from 1700s for lovers of history, social history, family history, ancestry and what life was like back in the day to explore. 

    Give a gift subscription to the British Newspaper Archive today! 

     

  3. For wildlife lovers, how about a membership to the Orangutan Foundation?

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    This week is Orangutan Awareness Week - don't forget to wear orange on Wednesday for Orange for Orangutan Day.  So it's a great opportunity to let you know that if you're looking for a gift membership for a wildlife lover, you could give them a membership to the Orangutan Foundation.

    The UK registered charity is based in the UK and they work in collaboration with The Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (BKSDA) to manage their programmes in Indonesian Borneo, in Central Kalimantan.

    Their mission is:

    "to save orangutans by protecting their tropical forest habitat, working with local communities and promoting research and education."

    But as they point out, it's more than that - they also recognise the role orangutans have to play in the biodiversity of the region.  Conservation is more than protecting a species - it's about protecting nature for all of us and our wellbeing.

    They are helping to conserve:

    • 393,800 acres of habitat in the Tanjung Puting National Park, home to 4,400 critically endangered orangutans and they also managePondok Ambung Tropical Forest Research Station there, which studies the park's fauna and flora, which includes monkeys and crocodiles. 
    • 600 critically endangered orangutans in 158,000 acres of habitat in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, one of the few protected areas where orangutans who've been rescued are released back into the wild

    What are the threats to orangutans?

    Their habitat is being destroyed by our demand for palm oil, not aided by the expanding bio-fuel market.  Orangutans and most of the biodiversity supported by tropical rainforests cannot co-exist with oil palm plantations.  Illegal logging, forest fires and illegal mining are also destroying the rainforest.   Fires kill and orphand displace many orangutans;  they are caused by the dry debris from logging, the use of fire by palm oil companies and the El Nino effect which has caused longer than usual dry seasons.  

     

    Give a Membership to the Orangutan Foundation and help orangutans 

    Memberships are really important to charities like the Orangutan Foundation.  They form a secure and ongoing support base for the work they do, and that means they can help and reintroduce orangutans back into the wild and also protect their rainforest habitat.  This year, the Orangutan Foundation is 30 years old and to celebrate, new members can receive a free copy of the charity's limited edition 30th Anniversary Booklet.  

    How is the Orangutan Foundation making a difference to orangutans?

    • Habitat Protection and Re-Forestation 
      If the forests are not safe, neither are the orangutans.  The Foundation supports the training, equipping and deployment of fire-fighting teams in areas of critical orangutan habitat. The use of guard posts and patrols to protect a wildlife reserve and national park have been very effective.  

    • Translocating and releasing orangutans
      Orangutans found isolated in remnant patches of forests or in oil palm plantations need rescuing.  Many are released in the wild.  A veterinary clinic can provide care. 

    • Education and awareness 
      To encourage children to have a greater interest in the natural world and help them to understand the importance of looking after it.

    • Scientific research
      This enables key conservation decisions to be made on important habitats

    • Capacity building and sustainable livelihoods
      It helps to develop the capacity of Indonesians to play a role in the conservation of the orangutan. The work of the charity also encourages sustainable practices and livelihoods that generate an income without destroying the forests. 

    The Orangutan Foundation runs its own programmes in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.

    Memberships support this work, and you'll find there are a number of different memberships available, mostly for one year but also for lifetime. There are memberships for Junior, Family, Individual, Student and Senior Citizens, Patron, Life and Corporate.

    Members receive a subscription to the bi-annual newsletter, Red Ape.  This keeps you up to date with the work the charity is doing.  Junior and family members also receive a copy of Pongo, the junior newsletter.


    Join today and support the work the Orangutan Foundation is doing.

    By the way, other gifts for an Orangutan lover may be

     

     

     

  4. Memberships for cat lovers...young and older!

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    If you’ve got a little one to buy for who adores cats and kittens, you could look at giving them a membership to the Little Paws Club.

    It’s ideal for children because they can learn and discover all about our feline friends.  The national cat charity Cats Protection run it, and it’s for children aged between 5 and 7 years old.


    Give the young cat lover in your life a membership to the Little Paws Club

    You get a welcome pack with exciting goodies, a monthlymagazine, Cat Snaps, stickers, colouring pages, a poster and a membership certificate.

    We need to do all we can to encourage young people to have an interest in and care for animals – they will be their guardians of the future, and it’s never too early to start!

    Pounce on more information from Cats Protection here.

    By the way, they do an Adult Membership as well.   You can do it as a gift for someone who loves cats and wants to lend a paw – it’s a great way to find out about the incredible work Cats Protection does and what volunteers do.  I'm a member and I love to receive The Cat magazine with all its news and features - the photography is wonderful and it reminds me of how much the charity does to help our feline friends.  And a membership is a great way to help Cats Protection help care for cats!