Case studies

A young independent researcher found Heritage Open Days a valuable platform to share her work ahead of an important centenary next year. Exploring the sensitive story of Princess Irene Duleep Singh — a woman history has often overlooked — she worked collaboratively to navigate complex themes of identity, mental health, and heritage, and overcome challenges of access and copyright. The wonderful response to her in-person and online talks demonstrates how successful her efforts were and bodes well for future plans.

This Italianate Palace in the heart of Suffolk, with over 1,800 acres of parkland and gardens, is quite the showstopper of a day out. Over the past few years the team have tried out various audience focused events and often had those visitors asking to be invited back next time something ‘bigger’ was on. So for 2025 they went bigger, MUCH bigger – offering a 10 day extravaganza of activities showcasing ‘behind the scenes’ of the estate.

Navigable waterways are an important part of our island story. A dedicated group of volunteers in Nottinghamshire helped bring some of it to life this year with three fabulous, fun events as they participated for the first time. Seeing the festival as an opportunity to promote their work to the wider community, they also found working on it helped them develop new skills, resources and, best of all, brought the team closer together.

This beautiful historic theatre in Cheshire not only knows how to pull in the crowds for a show, but how to engage visitors with its history! Their backstage tours with a local historian are always popular but this year they expanded their repertoire to reach an even wider audience with two new events: a pantomime costume workshop, and a spooky escape room created in collaboration with young adults.

How do you engage people with a busy 1,352ft long historic bridge, rising over 300ft above a gorge, which is in constant use?! This Trust has been doing just that, hugely successfully, for ten years. Working in partnership with a range of experts currently involved in maintaining the structure has given the team a new angle this year and made them even more of a highlight for visitors.

This cultural and community development organisation leads one of our most creative and diverse festival hubs. In addition to using the festival platform to showcase their work in preserving, documenting and celebrating the history of Milton Keynes, they also coordinate the wider local festival network on behalf of the City Council.

This extraordinary piece of ‘lost’ heritage lives on thanks to the work of a dedicated group of volunteers. Over the past six years they have held talks, led walks, and created videos sharing its story for the festival. This year they tried something different with a poetry workshop that helped more people discover the site’s history in new ways.

This stunning holiday home in Dorset tends to be booked up all year. To ensure the house and its story connects with as many people as possible though, the team saves space in the calendar for rare, but very special (and popular!) open days.

Over 10 years this local society has been developing a fantastic, creative hub of festival events. Their History Rock Snake really captured people's attention locally this year, while online they have 'visitors' as far afield as Australia with their series of films, which can showcase places and stories inaccessible any other way.

This national support network has been working with us since 2019. Drawing on our festival theme and amazing organiser network, each year they develop and deliver a series of talks, both in person and online, to help promote the history and potential of women in engineering.

This year Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens hosted a special Pride Party interwoven with the traditional craft of proggy. This innovative event was co-created with young people as long term festival participants, Sunderland Culture, joined our New Wave programme.

A Hindu place of worship in a modern building, beautifully decorated with traditional designs, welcomed many eager visitors over Heritage Open Days for the first time this year. Careful planning to engage a large new team of volunteers, ranging in age from 11-70+, meant they could spend more time with visitors enriching the experience for all.

A collection of art and crafts from South Asia and neighbouring countries, housed in an extraordinary old building has been opening its doors to festival visitors since 2015. Heritage Open Days (HODs) provides a valuable platform for the expert team to highlight their work and draw in new audiences, whose feedback helps shape future plans.

Traditional skills don't have to be lost in the past. To demonstrate this Heatherfield Heritage's eclectic team (including painters, carpenters, mechanics and much more!) took a punt with an online offering for their first Heritage Open Days. Overcoming challenges they created a series of bitesize videos showcasing the stories and craft behind the arts of our inland waterways, with a lighthearted touch that proved popular.

This beautiful Historic House in Northamptonshire offered that little something extra over their first Heritage Open Days, which drew in the crowds. Inspired by our work with Icon they ran a Conservation Unlocked event with experts in stained glass, gilding, books, and textiles to showcase all the different conservation work done at this beautiful site with a world class collection.

The most northerly town in England was one of the first pioneers of Heritage Open Days. Its ongoing success as a festival hub is down to the work of many volunteers, working in partnership and willing to try new things. Since 2018 a multi-generational steering group has coordinated the brilliant progamme of events, drawing on its rich history to transform the town for a weekend, helping people see it in a new light.

This medieval house is bursting with stories but not a lot of space! To work round this the team at National Trust Tintagel Old Post Office work in partnership with their neighbours (Tintagel WI) to showcase their site and engage more of their local community. This year's focus for the festival was on celebrating the 30th anniversary of the restoration work for their wonderful wonky roof - by inviting more people in to share their story, they have also gained new information for their archives.

A world class archive with an extensive, and surprisingly diverse range of material in its collection, sits beyond a humble driveway in a small Hertfordshire town. Due to the sensitive nature of the site and its work the doors can only be opened to the public for one day each year - Heritage Open Day! The festival not only allows the public a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes but it also gives the expert staff the chance to share their work and see its impact on the people who access the collections they have so painstakingly restored and researched.

An amazing collection of shoemaking heritage including a curious machine that creates poetry in latin! The Alfred Gillett Trust has much to offer visitors but is not yet fully open to the public so Heritage Open Days provides a valuable opportunity for the team to share their stories. And in a year where we celebrated 'Astounding Inventions', that poetic machine stepped straight into the media spotlight!

This beautiful Georgian house was invaded by giant (knitted) bugs as part of an expanded visitor offer for the festival this year. Working in partnership with the local Westerham Society and also with other National Trust colleagues tested the team's planning and resources but helped bring in a new audience.