Cookie Policy

Cookies are small files that collect information to help provide the best possible online experience for you. This page will tell you what cookies are, how we use them, and how you can control our use of cookies and similar technologies.

Last updated: February 2021

What are cookies?

Cookies are small files that are placed on your computer, tablet or smartphone, by websites and apps that you use. They collect information to make websites work effectively, to help us improve the site, to provide functionality, such as remembering what you have put in your shopping basket, and providing relevant marketing content. We use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a functional website and a more personalised experience.

Cookies are sent back to the originating website on each visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow us to recognise the device you’re using and provide you with a better website experience. 

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences andcounting the number of people looking at a website. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. Cookies in themselves don’t identify the individual user, just the computer or mobile device you’re using, via a randomly generated identifying tag.

We also use cookies in some of our emails you can subscribe to receive. They help us to understand how you interact with our emails, for example, clicking through to our website, and are used to improve our future email communications.

Web beacons

A web beacon is a tiny, invisible image placed within an email message that tells us whether you’ve opened an email, how often you’ve opened it and when, and which email software and web browser you used.

Link tracking

Our emails contain a number of hyperlinks, each of which has a unique tag. When you click on one of these links you’ll be automatically redirected to our mailing server which logs the click. From there, you’ll be redirected to the relevant page on our website. This process enables us to understand who has clicked through from an email to our website. We use this information to tailor future messages to you.

Cookies and email

If you’ve enabled images, cookies may be set on your computer or mobile device. Cookies will also be set if you click on any link within the email.

First and third party cookies

We use first and third party cookies for different purposes.

First party cookies are set by us, as the owner of the website or app, to enhance security and to improve our products and services for a better user experience. 

Third party cookies are set on our website by an organisation other than us. These enable us to learn more about our customers, so that we can provide a more personalised experience, or in some cases for advertising.

Session and persistent cookies

This describes how long a cookie will last for.

Session cookies last only for the duration of your visit to a particular website. When you close your web browser they are deleted.

Persistent cookies remain on your device after you have closed your web browser. They can be used for many purposes, such as remembering your logon details or your chosen preferences.

Why do we use cookies?

There are many different types of cookie and we use them to enable activities on our website, app and within some email communications. We group these cookies as follows:

Essential cookies:

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website or to make a purchase.

We also use essential cookies to remember information you’ve entered into our join or donate forms, so that you can move between steps on the form, or visit other pages without having to re-enter your information, all within a single website visit.

Functional cookies:

These cookies are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to remember the preferences you’ve chosen, for example, we use functionality cookies to remember settings you’ve previously applied, such as layout and text size.

Performance cookies:

These cookies are used to provide anonymous data to track how you interact with the website, and the number of visitors. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that you find what you’re looking for easily. We also use these to make sure the site is working properly and for testing different designs.

Marketing cookies:

These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We’ll use this information to make our website more relevant to your interests. These cookies allow us to target our advertising to you or to people similar to you, to measure effectiveness of campaigns, or to exclude you from our advertising. For example, a cookie set by a partner organisation may be used to exclude you from our membership ads on other organisations’ websites, if you have recently completed a membership purchase on our site. This enables us to target our advertising spend more efficiently. If you share an article using a social media sharing button, the social media site may record this.

Which cookies do we use?

First party cookies

The first party cookies that we use are listed in the table below:

Cookie name Cookie category Cookie author Cookie purpose Cookie duration
at_check Performance Used by Adobe Target to check if the users browser supports cookies Session

Third party cookies

We use third party cookies for the purposes of advertising and analytics. The below table outlines the purpose of each of our current third party cookies and gives links to the privacy policies of each third party. Please note the third party cookies used may change as we work with new or different suppliers – this list will be reviewed and updated quarterly.

Cookie author Cookie category Cookie purpose Link to third party policy
Amazon Marketing This cookie allows the display of adverts which are relevant to you and your interests. https://www.amazon.co.uk/adprefs

How do I change my cookie preferences and settings?

You can manage your cookie preferences any time you visit our website.

Cookies can also be controlled by your web browser settings. Whether our cookies are used will depend on your browser settings, so you’re in control. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please use the following links:


Please note that these links will take you to other sites. The National Trust is not responsible for the information and the setting of cookies on these other sites.

Please be aware that by blocking all cookies, you may not be able to access or use all the features of our website and you will not receive a personalised experience.

Managing email cookies

If you don’t want to accept cookies from our emails that you’ve subscribed to, there are some ways to manage this. In your email settings you can choose not to enable downloading of images from emails. You can also avoid clicking on any link in the email.

In some instances, depending on your email or browser settings, cookies in an email may be automatically accepted, for example, when you've added an email address to your address book or safe senders list. Please refer to your email browser or device instructions for more information on this.

If you have any questions in relation to the cookies we use, please contact us

Changes to this cookie policy

We will occasionally update this cookie policy to reflect changes in our departments and services. When we post changes to this cookie policy, we will revise the 'Last updated' date at the top of this cookie policy.

If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share information held in cookies, we will notify you by prominently posting notice of the changes on the website.

We recommend that you check this page from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this cookie policy or any of our other policies.