The Landmark experience
The Landmark Trust is a charity that rescues important buildings that would otherwise be lost.
Our small team take on historic places in danger and carefully and sensitively restore them. Then we make them available for self-catering holidays so they can be enjoyed by everyone and protected forever.
With more than 200 buildings across Britain and several in Italy, there is a fantastic selection of beautiful and remarkable properties from which to choose.
The kitchen at Castle of Park, Glenluce
What you can expect when staying in one of our buildings
To stay in one of our buildings is, our visitors tell us, to step away from the drone of modern life. Our Logbooks reveal some of the ways people spend their time: walking, cooking, playing cards, laying fires, painting, reading, watching the stars, writing, entertaining and simply thinking. Most of all they speak of the special atmosphere of a Landmark Trust building and of the preciousness of the time spent there with friends and family.
All of our buildings have comfortable furniture, a well-equipped kitchen, modern bathrooms and good quality bath and bed linen. All beds are made up ready for your arrival with sheets, blankets and duvets. Most Landmarks have at least one open fire or stove. They are quite different from the mainstream - none of our buildings have televisions, radios, telephones or Wi-Fi, though many - remote as they are - do have mobile phone coverage.
A welcome tray with tea and sugar awaits your arrival. Being self-catering, you will need to bring food and, if there is an open fire, you may need to bring kindling, logs and fire-lighters. Here are other things you might consider.
Castle Bungalow in North Devon. Photo: Katie Pankowski
History to live in
Our interiors have a style that is all their own. Usually favouring traditional furniture, with paintings and engravings relevant to each place, we try both to provide comfort and to emphasise the building’s historic character. We take care in selecting every bed and bookcase, lamp and latch, and you will find no modern mass-produced furniture in our buildings. Each Landmark also has a library of books selected to illuminate aspects of the building or locality, rather as you might find in the house of a well-read friend.
An extensively researched History Album, written for each Landmark, explores the story of that building and its rescue. And when you stay in a Landmark you'll feel yourself becoming part of that tale. As custodians of a precious place for a short while, our guests continue a tradition of care and conservation that stretches back through time, and well into the future.
Read a first-hand account of the Landmark experience from writer Gabriella Bennett
Shelwick Court, Herefordshire
Furnishing the details
Visitors often comment that Landmark Trust buildings don’t feel like holiday accommodation. This is partly because they are, by and large, historic buildings of real importance and interest, but also because of the way in which they are arranged and furnished. The furniture used in Landmark’s buildings is generally a mixture of carefully chosen – but rarely valuable – old pieces and new items we have either selected as appropriate, or created ourselves. The sofas and chairs and large and comfortable, and the beds all have high-quality modern mattresses specially made for Landmark.
"I try to make them into somewhere where you can be comfortable and at ease’ said John Evetts, who was Landmark's Furnishing Manager for 40 years, "but it shouldn’t feel ‘designer’ done; I don’t want people to feel they have to tiptoe around it, or that the decoration jars with the age of the building."
The bathroom at Queen Anne's Summerhouse, Bedfordshire
