Hidden Treasures of the National Trust: An intriguing insight into the challenges faced by the people who are working to preserve our heritage

It provides an intriguing insight into the challenges faced by the people who are working to preserve our heritage – think of it as The Repair Shop, where instead of having huge sentimental value to one family, the items have massive historical significance to the nation.

That’s particularly true of this week’s episode of Hidden Treasures of the National Trust, which focuses on the teams who care for the some of the most important legacies left to the organisation.

Our first port of call is the Cambridgeshire mansion Anglesey Abbey, which is home to 15,000 objects amassed during the lifetime of one man – Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven.

Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire

An American-born Anglophile and avid collector, he spent 40 years and a chunk of his inherited fortune on transforming the once dilapidated Anglesey Abbey into a luxurious home filled with treasures.

A team of staff and volunteers now have the huge responsibility of preserving his legacy, and one important piece is in need of urgent conservation.

The exquisite Pagoda Clock does more than just tell the time – the three-tiered, 200-year-old bejewelled creation puts on an automated spectacle every three hours. Now though, time has caught up with it, and clock conservator Matthew Read will need all his expertise to return it to its former glory.

Although the words National Trust may conjure up images of grand houses and aristocratic art collections, this edition reminds us that the organisation also offers an insight into the lives of seemingly ordinary people.

So, the second property featured tonight is a seemingly modest semi-detached family home in Worksop.

Endcliffe Villa, known as Mr Straw’s House, was left to the Trust by William Straw Junior, the last surviving son of a successful family of Midlands grocers who moved into the property in 1923. They threw little away, leaving a collection of over 30,000 objects, meaning the house is a perfectly preserved time-capsule of early 20th century life. (It’s also something to think about if Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out has got you considering a declutter.)

However, a leak in the roof means William Junior’s bedroom needs replastering, which presents collections and house officer Danielle Lander-Brown and her team of trusted volunteers with a huge logistical puzzle – they need to carefully remove every single item in William’s bedroom and then replace in exactly the same location, one item at a time.

Finally for this edition, we meet the team that care for the Trust’s largest fashion collection, based at Killerton House in Devon.

Their annual exhibition is looming, and selecting the pieces to display is a big job, especially as the they have 20,000 items choose from.

One eye-catching piece is a Victorian child’s fancy dress costume, which is sent to the Trust’s specialist textile studio in Norfolk for essential conservation treatment, while the team at Killerton uncover the unexpected story of its original owner.