NATIONAL treasures
“Octavia Hill’s experiences told her that what urban dwellers really needed for their wellbeing was open spaces”
In 1895, Octavia Hill noted proudly, “We have got our first piece of property”, adding: “I wonder if it will be the last.” Little could she and her two co-founders of the National Trust have foreseen that 125 years on from that first acquisition – five acres of gorse-covered cliff-top at Dinas Oleu in northwest Wales – the Trust would have become one of the UK’s largest charities, caring for more than 250,000 hectares of farmland, 780 miles of coastline and 500 historic properties, gardens and nature reserves.
It has been a remarkable story. Moreover, Hill’s part in founding the Trust on 12 January 1895 was just one aspect of her varied
