Is it too expensive for families to visit our best loved heritage attractions?

If you make a list of the most famous tourist attractions near where you live, the chances are there will be a well known castle or house fairly near the top of the list. Some stand in ruins. Others are more complete. And many of them have been standing for hundreds of years.

They are the sorts of places many families like to visit so that their children can learn some local history. But there are concerns that some families are being priced out of visiting heritage attractions because of the cost of admission tickets.

English Heritage owns around 400 sites around the country. Many of them are free to enter but others have admission prices, sometimes more than £50 for a family. We have compared how much a family ticket costs at attractions in our area with others around the country:

  • Stonehenge, Wiltshire - £59.30 (Saturdays)

  • Audley End House and Gardens, Essex - £49.40

  • Tintagel Castle, Cornwall - £40.80

  • Battle Abbey, Sussex - £35.40

  • Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire - £35.40

  • Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire - £32.80

  • Brodsworth Hall, South Yorkshire - £32.80

  • Wrest Park, Bedfordshire - £32.80

  • Dover Castle, Kent - £30.05

  • Framlingham Castle, Suffolk - £29.40

  • Whitby Abbey, North Yorkshire - £26.00

  • Witley Court, Worcestershire - £23.40

  • Conisbrough Castle, South Yorkshire - £20.50

  • Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland - £20.50

  • Portchester Castle, Hampshire - £20.50

  • Ashby de-la-Zouch Castle, Leicestershire - £17.90

  • Farleigh Hungerford Castle, Somerset - £15.30

  • Launceston Castle, Cornwall - £15.30

They are admission costs which some families say they cannot afford.

Olivia Johnson would like to be able to take her two children to more heritage attractions. Credit: ITV News

The charity Gingerbread, which works with families like Olivia's, says more needs doing to make sure people are not priced out of visiting such places.

English Heritage points out that many of its sites are free, and thought is put into how much entry fees cost to make sure it is affordable.

English Heritage says many of its attractions are free and it thinks carefully when setting other entry fees. Credit: ITV News

Not all historical sites are owned by English Heritage. Some privately owned sites, and those run by other organisations, can be even more expensive.

But many sites will be free and have special events from this Friday when Heritage Open Days begins for 10 days.

This year's Heritage Open Days run from 10-19 September 2021 and there are many attractions taking part with free admission.