The National Trust has announced its income increased by £135.7m last year as it recovers from the Covid pandemic.

Its annual report for the year ending February this year show that its income was £643.3m, up on the previous year’s tally of £507.7m.

This includes an £18.9m increase in legacy donations and a £12.5m boost for its membership income. It now has 5.7m members.

Direct property income is also up, by £71.5m. Around 20m visited its properties last year, an increase of seven million on the previous year.

During 2021/22 its total fundraising was £107.2m which has helped the charity “return to near normal operations”.

“We’re hugely grateful to all our supporters, whether that is our loyal members, our generous funders, or our fantastic family of 44,000 volunteers, all of whom invaluably supported our recovery last year,” said National Trust director general Hilary McGrady.

“As we enter a period of major pressure on people’s finances, we are very conscious we need to do everything possible to provide value for money and new opportunities for people to enjoy free-to-access places in our care.”

The charity has pledged to invest £500m in conservation projects over the next three years.

The charity’s director of land and nature Harry Bowell said: “The nature and climate crises are now the most significant threats to our work.

“At the Trust we look after over 249,000 hectares of land and we are investing in a wide range of projects to improve our resilience to the effects of climate change by bolstering nature, including restoring peatlands, planting and establishing trees and creating new areas of wetland.”

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