National Trust in the year 2023 ?

This is the ballroom at the stately home formerly known as Sudbury Hall.

It has been transformed. 
Gone are the well informed guides, happy to tell you a bit about the history.

The purple lights, the swirling patterns and the neon sign suggest that you dance as though it’s 1685 (or some such year.) It’s aimed to appeal to children and give them skills they can use when visiting other National Trust stately homes. 

There’s a wardrobe open, with skirts, dresses, tunics and costumes, and as we paused there, two youngsters were twirling and dancing in the outfits provided. 

Their parents were pleased that they were having so much fun.

The Long Gallery had a selfie booth at one end and (obscurely weird) speech balloons beneath the portraits. 

Teasels to stop you sitting on the seats have vanished, replaced by plastic hedgehog signs…..

I loved the Library. Lots of modern books, children sized chairs, and a roaring fire……… but apart from one absorbed little girl whose parents hurried her along, no children seemed to pause on their way through.

Lots of toys, places to lounge, places to run, things to explore……(but the four poster bed was sadly off limits….fenced off old style. I thought that was unsporting and when I said they were spoiling the fun, was told by the youthful advocate of the new style that it was “200 years old !!”). 

I’m far from sold on the idea.

Apart from that, they haven’t thought it through. Children's buggies must be left far away from the hall, and they had no harnesses, not particularly safe with the numerous impressive staircases which are a real risk as children get excited. 

You can’t just enter the hall. You have to have an ink stamp on your wrist over at the Visitors Centre and then return. Not helpful, nor necessary,  if you have mobility problems. 

One big question ran through my mind…..the activities were clearly fun for kids, but they would probably have been the same if they had been housed in an old aircraft hanger, or even a modern building. Why use a stately home ? There was scant reference to history……

It will either be a resounding success, filled with enthusiastic children keen to try out other NT properties, or it might just be quiet and not so full of pensioners when the little ones are back at school…….