Memberships And Annual Passes

We've visited a few places over the last year or two which either gave us unlimited visits for a year included in the admission price, or else we paid for an annual pass. Just like the RSPB and Another Year Of The National Trust, I've kept a note of each time we've visited to see if they were good value.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum. The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later moving to the Parsonage in Haworth. Between them, Charlotte, Emily and Anne wrote seven novels including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The Parsonage is now a museum which houses the largest collection of Brontë items in the world. They also have items on loan from other collections.

We paid £13 for a standard ticket which is valid for a year. I did wonder if it's worth revisiting a place such as this but the exhibitions and installations change, and you do see things which you missed on previous visits. A visit during the festive season is especially lovely with the Parsonage decked out in its Christmas finery. We visited three times.

The Deep. A public aquarium at Sammy's Point in Hull where the Humber Estuary and the River Hull meet. The Deep opened back in 2002 and we visited not long after but hadn't been since. Their mission: "To create a deeper understanding and enjoyment of the world's oceans and inspire positive change for their survival." There's certainly a lot of information to take on board and plenty to see, everything from sharks to penguins, sawfish to Madagascar hissing cockroaches. There are daily talks in various areas throughout each day. For the most part it's a brilliant day out, especially when you're looking for somewhere to go in wet weather, it's all undercover, but I have to say that I have mixed feelings about zoos and aquariums and the ethical dilemma of keeping animals in captivity. In most cases I can see that the animals are well cared for and their needs are being met, but there were a couple of things at The Deep which made me uncomfortable. I won't say any more about that, you can make up your own mind.

We paid £23 for an  adult ticket which includes free return visits for a year. There's so much to see here that you can return time and time again without getting bored. We visited twice.

Shakespeare's Birthplace. William Shakespeare was a playwright, poet and actor and was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. Many buildings associated with Shakespeare are still standing and can be visited in the town. Although his career took him to London, he kept close links with Stratford-upon-Avon and was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church after his death in 1616.

When we visited Stratford-upon-Avon we used our Tesco Clubcard vouchers towards payment for entry to Shakespeare's Houses & Gardens. A standard ticket which includes admission to Shakespeare's Birthplace, Anne Hathaway's Cottage and the gardens at Shakespeare's New Place cost us £31, however, the Clubcard vouchers are worth double so the ticket used £15.50 in vouchers. The tickets are valid for twelve months.

We visited Shakespeare's Birthplace and Anne Hathaway's Cottage on our first visit to Stratford-upon-Avon last year, we returned this year and visited New Place as well as making a second visit to Shakespeare's Birthplace. 

Lotherton. We've had joint membership here for many years. An Edwardian country estate, historic hall and Wildlife World zoo, it's just four miles from where we live. It was a great place to walk Archie, he loved the woods especially and we visited once a week at the very least most of the time, often several times a week. We already had membership when Archie died last March, though we didn't visit for a full month afterwards as we just couldn't bring ourselves to go without him. It's such a lovely place though, we knew we had to return. Our membership expired at the end of October and we didn't renew it over winter, we would have done if Archie were still here as we walked rain or shine but we visited other places over winter instead. We've renewed our membership since and now visit with Jack, there's a lovely children's playground which he loves. We also visit on our own as it's such a lovely place to walk, though we don't visit anywhere near as often as we did when Archie was with us.

There are events held throughout the year including Easter, Halloween and Christmas themed experiences and these are included in the admission price or membership fee, though there are sometimes add-ons which can be purchased in addition, such as a visit to see Santa Claus or a tractor ride, depending on the time of year.

An adult ticket costs £10.50 online or £11 on the gate, however, we paid £55 for a joint annual membership. We've already saved a great amount by having annual membership and there's still many months left before it comes up for renewal again.

RSPB. Although we didn't save a huge amount when we had our previous membership, we did renew it again. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is the UK's largest nature conservation charity. We revisited all the places we'd been before: Sherwood Forest, Bempton Cliffs, St.Aidan's and Fairburn Ings, and we also visited Saltholme this time.

We paid £60 for our joint membership and ended up saving £12. It's not a huge amount but it's nice to know that we're supporting such a good cause. Of course, we also received our RSPB handbook and four issues of the RSPB magazine over the course of the year. We haven't renewed the membership yet but we definitely will, we enjoy our evening walks at our local reserves.

Jorvik Viking Centre. From 1976 to 1981 archaeologists uncovered parts of the Viking-age city of Jorvik under the Coppergate area of York, which was nearly 1000 years old. The Jorvik Viking Centre stands directly on the excavation site and guests are able to journey through reconstructed Viking-age streets as they were in 10th century York. 

There's so much to experience here including sights, sounds and even smells of the Viking Age. Animatronic characters demonstrate the language which was used and show their way of life. There's galleries which display a fascinating collection of Viking artefacts too.

I used Tesco Clubcard vouchers towards payment for entry. A standard ticket costs £17.50, however, the Clubcard vouchers are worth double so each ticket used £8.75 in vouchers. The tickets are valid for twelve months. We will definitely go back again before our ticket runs out next May.

So looking back at the places we've been, what we've spent and what we've saved, I would definitely say that memberships and annual passes are good value for money.

Please note that the prices here are what they were at the time of purchase and may now differ.