Coughton Court, the Tudor country house near Alcester, is now being run day to day by Magnus Birch Throckmorton and his wife, Imogen, after the Throckmorton family took over stewardship from the National Trust in February. Since then, National Trust members have lost the free access they once had, a change that has landed badly with some who had expected their membership to open the gates.
Mr Throckmorton said some people were “not happy” when the change became clear, adding simply: “Not everybody likes change.” The family has responded by throwing its arms wide open to visitors who may never have had a membership, and it has added a new play park at Coughton Court that is free for all.
The shift matters because Coughton Court is not just another visitor attraction. It is the Throckmortons’ ancestral home, and until February it had been run by the National Trust. That made the handover more than a management change: it altered who could walk in without paying and who would now have to come as an ordinary visitor.
The initial backlash from some National Trust members shows how attached people can become to the privileges that come with membership, especially at a place long associated with public access and heritage stewardship. The family’s answer has been to widen the welcome rather than narrow it, and the free play area is the clearest sign yet that the new arrangement is meant to open the property up, not shut it down.
For visitors, the practical question now is straightforward: the National Trust no longer runs Coughton Court, and free member entry is gone. What remains is a family-run house that is trying to reset expectations by inviting in a broader crowd, with a free attraction for children at the centre of that pitch.
