The National Trust is best known for preserving imposing historical buildings such as castles and stately homes, but the heritage conservation charity also looks after much humbler abodes, which are featured in Hidden Treasures of the National Trust.
The new series will take viewers around the country, visiting some of the most interesting locations the charity looks after. From a beautiful Chinese bridge that is painstakingly rebuilt and a 450-year-old table that must be saved from collapse to the childhood home of Sir Paul McCartney... there really is something for everyone.
Here is everything we know about Hidden Treasures of the National Trust...
Hidden Treasures of the National Trust release date
Hidden Treasures of the National Trust will air on Friday, May 12 at 9 pm on BBC Two. The series will then air in the same slot weekly.
Hidden Treasures of the National Trust — episode guide
EPISODE ONE: THE MIDLANDS
Biddulph Grange, Hardwick Hall and Belton House
The repair of a Chinese-style Victorian bridge, conservation of the Elizabethan Sea Dog table, and a painting of a child of African heritage, concealed under centuries of varnish.
EPISODE TWO: THE SOUTH EAST
Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Bateman’s
The restoration of the writing room of writer Vita Sackville-West and the repair of Rudyard Kipling’s writing desk and clock.
EPISODE THREE: THE NORTHWEST
Forthlin Road, the Hardmans’ House and Dudmaston Hall
Conservation work on Paul McCartney’s childhood home, and the unpacking of a priceless photographic archive.
EPISODE FOUR: THE NORTH EAST
Cragside,Seaton Delaval and Cherryburn
The renovation of a bespoke Victorian clock, secrets of debauched parties revealed by X-Ray and a homemade glove puppet from World War Two.
EPISODE FIVE: KENT
Ightham Mote, Chartwell and Smallhythe Place
Saving a priceless Chinese wallpaper, the restoration of a model used by Churchill to plan D-Day, and a surprising discovery at the home of a Victorian actress.
EPISODE SIX: NORTHERN IRELAND
Castle Ward, Mount Stewart and The Argory
The restoration of concrete animals from the 1920s, and a silver inkstand belonging to Lord Castlereagh of Mount Stewart, a controversial figure who redrew the map of Europe.
What happens in the Beatles episode?
Episode three of the new season takes us for a look around number 20 Forthlin Road, which is an ordinary-looking former council house in south Liverpool. But it has an extraordinary history because, as the childhood home of Paul McCartney, it’s been dubbed ‘the birthplace of the Beatles’!
Here Peter Grant, the Liverpool Echo’s Beatles correspondent, who works as a tour guide at the house, invites us inside for a look round…
"The house was built in 1952," says Peter. "The McCartneys arrived in 1956, and left in 1964, when a family called the Joneses moved in, and the Trust bought it in 1995. Visitors often ask me: 'Why isn't there a blue plaque outside, like there is on John Lennon’s childhood home?' That's because Paul’s still alive, but the house will get one when he's 100!"
"Going into the 1950s-style kitchen, you see all the items that have been preserved from that period, but they are becoming harder to source as time goes by! It has a quarry tile floor, and when a visitor to the house from Arkansas in the USA found out that all four Beatles had walked on it, she knelt down and kissed the floor!"
"In the living room there’s an upright piano, and that’s where Paul composed a little song called When I’m 64 when he was just 14 years old — can you believe that?! He would lie on the carpet and listen to his dad play music by ear, and never took any piano lessons. They never had a proper carpet, just rugs stitched together. And they didn’t have the same wallpaper on all four walls, because Mary loved Sanderson wallpaper, but all she could afford was the end of the roll! "
"All around this wonderful house we have photographs that were taken by Paul’s brother Mike McCartney, which really do weave in a bit of magic. One of them shows John Lennon and Paul sitting by the fireplace with guitars, on the very day they finished writing I Saw Her Standing There."
