National Trust to prioritise ‘embracing traditions of different cultures’
Charity replaces ‘history’ with ‘culture’ in revised mission statement
Craig Simpson Arts Correspondent
Craig Simpson is Arts Correspondent for The Telegraph covering the major issues affecting British arts and culture, both at home and around the world. See more
Published 25 March 2026 6:30am GMT
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The National Trust has quietly updated its values to prioritise “embracing the traditions of different cultures”, The Telegraph can reveal.
The charity amended its mission statement to remove numerous references to “history” in favour of the word “culture”, while several references to “countryside” were also stripped away.
Objectives of the National Trust now include “embracing the traditions of different cultures” and the “stories of different histories”.
The organisation said it wanted to harness “the ideas of a million minds. Alive. Open”, and referred to its charitable work as a “movement [that] reaches across time and place”.
It has made a video montage for internal use featuring shots of landscapes, stately homes redecorated for a Hindu festival, and tower blocks in east London.
Voice-overs recite several of the new values included in the updated Who We Are and What We Stand for section of the charity’s website.
Under the slogan “Together We Thrive”, the Trust states: “We all need nature; it’s a matter of survival. And we all need culture; it’s what humans do.”
‘New life to old places’
The previous statement of values said that “we look after the nation’s coastline, historic sites, countryside and green spaces, ensuring everyone benefits”.
This has been updated since February, with the National Trust now stating that it will look after nature and landscapes, and also “give new life to old places”.
The earlier version of the trust’s values listed several of its properties across the country, including Lizard Point and Lindisfarne, and said the trust worked “to protect nature, beauty and history in towns, cities, villages and countryside”.
The organisation now says: “We collectively represent a cause that’s bigger than just ourselves or one property. It’s about caring for nature and culture everywhere.”
The video shows Hindus celebrating the spring festival of Holi at Corfe Castle in 2024, and a mural featuring the late poet Benjamin Zephaniah.
It stresses the sense of the Trust as a movement, and includes a fleeting image of a climate protest. Among the crowd is a woman holding a sign stating “capitalism kills”.
The voice-over adds: “What we can do together, we could never do alone.”
‘This patronises visitors’
Cornelia Van der Poll, the co-founder of Restore Trust, a campaign group, said: “It seems that this is an attempt to attract ethnic minority visitors by incorporating their cultures into properties.
“This patronises visitors and risks misrepresenting the properties. It also seems counter-productive to treat people as belonging to separate identity groups.”
The update and the video follow a lobbying effort, led by the Trust, for the Government to tighten environmental protections.
The charity called on members to write to their MPs to pressure the Government to commit to a number of points including cleaning up waterways, and supporting farmers to help nature thrive.
Other demands include introducing more green spaces accessible to all neighbourhoods, and a push to end “unfair access to green space”.
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National Trust boss: Ethnic minorities don’t know what to wear in countryside
Part of this includes cultural barriers that might prevent ethnic minorities from enjoying the outdoors, an issue recently addressed by Hilary McGrady, the National Trust director-general.
Speaking to LBC, she said: “They don’t necessarily know ‘what am I meant to wear, how do I behave? What’s a countryside code? I’ve never heard of it’. So there’s loads of different reasons why they don’t feel confident all the time.”
The National Trust has been contacted for comment.
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