‘We want people to sit, pause, relax’: National Trust to open its libraries for public use – The National Trust – The Guardian

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‘We want people to sit, pause, relax’: National Trust to open its libraries for public use

The library at Upton House, Warwickshire. The National Trust is planning to open up more of its libraries to the public this year. Photograph: James Dobson / National Trust Images

Charity plans to make stately homes more welcoming by inviting visitors to use furniture and reading rooms

By Steven Morris, Mon 12 Jan 2026 00.00 EST

There was a time, not so long ago, when a visit to a National Trust stately home could be a staid affair and sitting on the furniture tended to be discouraged, with pine cones or teasels often placed on chairs to remind people not to perch.

This year, one of the aims of the conservation charity will be to make people feel more at ease in its grand houses and, where practical, allow them to sit on historic chairs and use libraries and reading rooms rather than simply peer into them.

“The key principle is we want people to be able to feel at home, feel relaxed and welcome,” said Tarnya Cooper, the National Trust’s cultural heritage director. “These places belong to all of us. We want people to sit down, pause, relax.”

The library at Powis Castle, mid Wales. Photograph: James Dobson / National Trust Images

Two properties, Wightwick Manor in the West Midlands and Blickling Estate in Norfolk have already been made more welcoming.

At Wightwick, chairs that people are free to sit on are being identified with cushions decorated with cats while at Blickling, modern children’s books and nonfiction volumes have been placed along the visitor route, such as the Lower Ante and Upper Ante rooms, so visitors can rest and read.

The trust is making sure there are more places for people to take a seat at The Vyne in Hampshire, Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, Upton House in Warwickshire, and Dyrham Park, near Bath.

Bibliophiles will be able to read in libraries at Wightwick Manor, Powis Castle, mid Wales, and Kingston Lacy, Dorset.

Another initiative to make visits more comfortable will be to improve lighting. A project to light a pair of Rubens portraits, two of the glories of the trust’s art collection – and to lower them so people could see them better – is already proving popular.

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