As one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in the country, stately Attingham Park has long been preserved for the nation by the National Trust.
But the 18th Century mansion is now the focus of a simmering row over the future direction of the charity after its elegant dining room was left strewn with pizza boxes, crisp packets and bottles of fizzy drinks for a new party-themed ‘visitor experience’.
The bizarre display, which included ‘blow-up guitars and party hats on statues’, has been met with dismay by members of the Trust who have visited the historic Shropshire pile in recent weeks.
A bizarre display of pizza boxes, crisp packets and fizzy drinks (pictured) have been left strewn in the dining room in Attingham Park as part of a party-themed 'visitor experience'
‘It’s beyond words,’ a spokesman for members’ pressure group Restore Trust said. ‘It’s not pretending to represent any kind of truth. It’s just a gimmick.’
According to the campaign group, which now has more than 10,000 members, the surprising display is not the only desecration of noteworthy heritage owned by the National Trust – a gathering furore that threatens to alienate the charity’s 5.5 million core supporters and betray the wishes of the aristocratic families who donated the properties.
Indeed, the display at Attingham, along with many other similar examples, represents the latest front in a culture war against what many diehard members see as the 125-year-old institution’s increasing indulgence of a new woke agenda.
At the heart of its criticisms is the reduction in the number of professional curators the charity employs – and, in their absence, a growing number of extraordinary instances of ‘fakery’, ‘gimmicks’ and ‘inappropriate modernisations’ that are dumbing down important cultural sites to bring in new business.
CULTURE TRASH: It has been met with dismay by members of the National Trust who have visited the the 18th Century mansion in Shropshire in recent weeks
Historic furniture and paintings were removed from a room at Croft Castle in Herefordshire to make way for a playroom, for example, while beanbags
