Stories

By Sean Sawyer, Executive Director When I think about all the trips I’ve been fortunate enough to make to the UK over the past 20 years, one stands out as the most scenic, romantic and active–yet relaxing. This is the magical week that my partner and I spent in a National Trust holiday cottage in May of 2006 on Roseland Peninsula, located in southeast Cornwall.

I’m not alone in saying that the scenery of a historic house and garden often produces a desire to create something equally striking. Sketching is one of my favorite hobbies and is nurtured by my love of travel. For a graduate class, I visited Stowe with an assignment to draw and describe two of the garden’s structures. Not only did this exercise indulge my love for historic buildings and encourage my favorite hobby, it also gave me the opportunity to research classical architecture, a field which I’ve only studied in a preservation capacity.

By Sean Sawyer, Executive Director I'm going to plunge into addressing one of the most frequently asked questions I encounter on my travels: "why do Americans want to support preservation and conservation work in the UK?" First, I have to say that this is generally asked not by Americans or our supporters but by Brits themselves. After more than four years as Royal Oak's Executive Director, my answer is simple: "We feel profoundly connected – each for our own personal reasons - to Britain's history and beauty.”

When our goals of preservation and access don’t line up as harmoniously as we’d hope, it’s important to carefully consider our values. The National Trust and all of us with a stake in its mission must foster an open discussion and arrive at a conclusion that satisfies those values.

People often wonder what goes on behind-the-scenes planning each season’s lecture topics. I think you would be surprised at how much of it’s a balancing act of complicated speaker schedules combined with hundreds of phone calls and a lot of internet research.