THE National Trust is reopening some of its historic houses, with visitors allowed at seven properties in England and Northern Ireland from today.

None of the main York properties are on the list, with the houses at Treasurer's House, Goddards and Beningbrough Hall all remaining temporarily closed.

At Beningbrough the Brew House Cafe and gardens are open and entry is by ticket only so that numbers can be kept low enough to allow social distancing. The gardens at the stately home, north of York were the first National Trust garden to reopen in Yorkshire last month.

From Monday 13 July, the following National Trust houses are re-opening: ​

  • Barrington Court, Somerset. Opening 13 July​
  • Kingston Lacy, Dorset. Opening 13 July​
  • Lyme, Cheshire. Opening 13 July​
  • Oxburgh, Norfolk Opening 13 July​
  • Petworth, West Sussex. Opening 13 July​
  • The Argory, County Armagh. Opening 15 July​
  • Packwood, Warwickshire. Opening 17 July​

The Trust say the move is a test run of new rules intended to keep the public and staff as safe as possible.

Tarnya Cooper from the National Trust, said: "We're really grateful to our members and supporters for sticking with us during lockdown.

"This is the first time in 16 weeks we've been able to contemplate reopening our houses."

She said about one million visitors had already pre-booked trips to National Trust's parks and gardens since they opened in early June.

Visitors need to book tickets. Click here to find out more.