A RECORD five million visits were made to National Trust houses and gardens in the South West last year – with figures up by 1.2 per cent in Wiltshire. In total, from January 1 to December 31, there were almost 5,014,000 visits made, an increase of 2.5 per cent on 2013.

Along with much of the tourism industry in the South West, this time last year National Trust places endured storms, high winds and flooding.

Trust staff and volunteers were constantly monitoring the weather, closing and re-opening parklands and gardens as conditions changed.

Places such as Stourhead made national headlines.

Despite the challenging start to 2014, National Trust places bounced back to record levels of popularity last year.

Every county enjoyed increases. David Andrews, CEO of Visit Wiltshire, congratulated the Trust and said: “At a time when domestic tourism growth is flat, it’s great to see another of our partners performing so strongly and a deserved reward for all the hard work that’s gone into the trust’s increased events programme, extended opening times, closer partnership working and an increased focus on digital and social media activity.

“The National Trust now welcome 804,000 visitors to their Wiltshire properties and with similar increases reported by other industry partners, we’re expecting 2015 to be another record year for tourism to Wiltshire.”

Shona Owen, from the National Trust, added: “In contrast, this January, more of our places are open than ever before.”