pumpkinstrokemarrow

Or is it all just more evidence of how good the private sector is at sucking money out of the public sector? And running on about how inefficient the public sector is while they suck.

The same issue carried a piece by Sir S. Jenkins, chairman of the National Trust, telling us that we should stop being so solemn about old buildings. Rather we should be trying to get some value out of them. I rather think he has a point, certainly about Stonehenge where we are only allowed to approach to within a hundred yards or so in case we damage the SSSI, SSHI and probably sacred turf. Unless, of course, one happens to be one of those talkative beards from some television history program in which case it is total access for the whole media circus plus free drinks, public denied for the duration. We are planning to visit the place in the fairly near future so I will be able to report on what can be seen from a hundred yards. Perhaps we will find a virtual reality experience in some giant new underground (underground so as not to damage the aforementioned turf) visitor centre where one can pick a role and get the whole thing. Smells and all. Actors dressed as Asterix & Obelix wielding plastic sickles. Much better than peering at the real thing through the sheep & mist.

In the meantime, we paid a visit to Polesden Lacey (built with McEwan's beer money not gin money as reported on November 1st last), to see how they were doing with their 250,000 visitors a year; a premier league operation in NT speak. As it happens, we visited on the day of the dog fair and some days before the tulip fair. Which was just as well as most of the thousands of tulips kindly provided by deJager tulips (http://www.dejager.co.uk/product?ipg=5205) were full on and quite spectacular. Not the sort of show one can put on in an Epsom front garden but just the thing for a place like this. They will be a bit past their peak by the day intended. What will they do with all the beds when the tulips are lifted? Will they have numbers of fancily dressed deJager staff patrolling the tulips on fair days? None to be seen yesterday. Is it the thin end of the wedge? Will NT properties be going in for big time sponsorship, rather in the annoying way of some schools now?

In the meantime, a well presented and very attractive property. We only did the outside but there was plenty there, although I only found out about an atlas cedar after we left (see 8th April). There was also an efficient and very reasonably priced canteen - it perhaps being a pointer to the future that the canteens, shops and so on had a bigger footprint than the stately home itself. I had a couple of the best sweet scones that have bought for some time. Maybe an all time best. And they could provide FIL with a decent looking gluten free bread roll to go with his ham salad. The ham did not look bad either. All in all, a good day out.

By way of comparison I wondered what their neighbour, Chessington World of Adventures do, and after a little while I find myself at Merlin Entertainments (http://www.merlinentertainments.biz/en/homepage.aspx) who do publish an annual report, but which is not quite as open as that from the National Trust. Trade secrets perhaps. The best that I could do was find out that the six 'Resort Theme Parks', of which Chessington is one, did around 12m visitors in 2009. So Chessington runs at maybe 10 times the number of visitors as Polesden Lacey - a bigger operation altogether. Even so, the Polesden Lacey operation includes 500 volunteers which must tax the organising powers of a significant HR department, volunteers not always being the easiest people top organise.