Open house
AT its annual conference last week, James Birch, the president of Historic Houses (formerly the Historic Houses Association) announced two new initiatives. The first is a close partnership with newly formed charity the Country Houses Foundation, which was created from the merger of the Country Houses Foundation (COUNTRY LIFE, November 22, 2017) and the Heritage Conservation Trust. The new charity will henceforth be known as the Historic Houses Foundation, in order to underline its partnership with Historic Houses.
The Historic Houses Foundation will, however, continue to operate independently, offering grants to rural houses in private, institutional or charitable ownership. Its remit is to advance the preservation for public benefit of architecturally significant buildings as well as their furnishings, gardens and grounds. ‘These changes are all about charities and non-profit organisations working together intelligently to do even more, in a more efficient way,’ explains chairman Norman Hudson.
The second initiative is a collaboration with Invitation to View (www. invitationtoview.co.uk). This is a co-operative scheme that began in East Anglia by which houses, many of them not normally open to the public, offer tours by appointment. It has gradually expanded to the South-west and will begin to operate in Yorkshire next year.
For the future, it is hoped that Historic Houses properties will join the scheme more widely. JG