Hello, I am looking at three passes--the Hudson Heritage Pass, the National Trust and the English Heritage. I'm not buying the English Heritage, because the only site I will see on its list is Stonehenge. I am buying the National Trust because there are several historic houses I want to see on their list. I am considering the Hudson Heritage Pass, which seems to be quite new, but I have questions about it. On their website, the Hudson Heritage Pass lists the Roman Baths, the Fashion Museum, #1 Royal Crescent, Warwick Castle, Shakespeare's houses, Jorvick Centre and some other sites I am interested in as covered by their pass. However, on that same website, when you do a search for these sites, they do not show up. So my question is--do they really offer free entry to those attractions or not? I e-mailed them but have not received a response. Thanks.
Posted by
New England
312 posts
I used the old Great British Heritage Pass on a trip and lamented its passing. The Hudson is a replacement apparently .. http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/92310/hudson39s-explorer-pass-in-england.html I am seeing what you mean with the confusion of exact coverage of the pass. Warwick Castle is listed on the 'more info' for the pass, but the search the venues, it doesn't show .. hmm. With some guessing and web searches, I tried the choose a destination (Heart of England) and then used choices of county (Warwickshire) and near (Warwick) and Warwick Castle definitely doesn't show, though the Shakespeare Houses is there on the list. I'm learning my geography with this :-) Figuring out that Bath is in Somerset County, I went to the South West and the county and looked for Bath .. no Roman Baths or #1 Royal Crescent. I hope you hear from Hudson's, because this needs fixing on the web site!
Posted by
OP
Somewhere in California
107 posts
They have a new website: http://www.hudsons-explorer.com/ The Hudson Heritage Pass, while covering many sights we want to see, won't work for us due to our 16-year-old daughter. The pass' child prices only cover children up to 15, so she has to pay the adult price. However, at many of the sights we want to see, she needs to only pay the child price because they list children as those through age 16. These sights include the Roman Baths, Fashion Museum, Blenheim Palace, Shakespeare's House, etc. So actually, we will have to pay more using the Hudson Heritage Pass. Which is unfortunate, because I was looking forward to not having to wait in line at these sights. Maybe I can purchase advanced tickets from these sights directly and get a print-out or e-ticket so I don't have to wait in line. I will have to check each one of them out.
Posted by
Camano Island, WA, usa
1446 posts
Just checked the Hudson Heritage Explorer Pass on Google. It does seem to cover most of what used to be on the Great British Heritage Pass. There may be some cross over with National Trust but many are not Trust Properties so it is worth getting both if you want to see everything! I personally would skip Jorvick as too much like a tunnel of love ride unless they have drastically improved it recently. Warwick is kind of like Madame Tussauds but is done well. I loved the Fashion Museum; especially the shoes. If you can see only a few of the great estates I would choose Chatsworth and Howards Castle.