fireside fun courtesy of the royal oak foundation

November 10th, 2009

MONOP

The perfect recipe for a chilly winter’s night? Spending hours snuggled up by a crackling fire playing a good old-fashioned board game.

Just in time, the UK’s National Trust has launched its very own Monopoly set, becoming the first charity version of the game to be created.  Exclusively available in the US through The Royal Oak Foundation, it is on sale now to further brighten the coming festive season.  National Trust properties have replaced the locales on the standard US version of the board, which includes familiar names such as “Pennsylvania Avenue” and “Park Place.”

Reserve your National Trust Monopoly game for $100, 50 percent of which is a tax-deductible donation to The Royal Oak Foundation for their work with the National Trust.

Here are a few highlights from the new board:

  • Lyme Park in Cheshire –featured in the BBC’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, with Colin Firth emerging from the lake as Mr. Darcy – replaces Boardwalk.
  • Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire – one of Britain’s greatest and most complete Elizabethan houses built by the formidable Bess of Hardwick – replaces Park Place.

Players can purchase National Trust countryside sites that include the iconic Snowdonia (Pennsylvania Avenue) and the glorious gardens of Stourhead (Indiana Avenue).   The game also substitutes 20 Forthlin Road, the childhood home of Sir Paul McCartney, for Mediterranean Avenue, and the Birmingham Back to Backs, the atmospheric 19th century courtyard of workers’ homes, for Baltic Avenue. 

Twenty-six National Trust places from across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are featured in the board game; they include beaches, a light house, a mill from the Industrial Revolution, and Sir Winston Churchill’s family home.

Where there are houses and hotels in the original game, National Trust Monopoly has players building visitor centers and holiday cottages; the grouping of National Trust locations, including countryside, beaches, grand mansions, industrial works, and beautiful gardens, reflects the range of properties within the Trust’s care.

Proceeds of the game go directly to preserving the real versions of the special places on the board – so even the most ruthless Monopoly property developers will still be doing their parts for conservation.

The game features National Trust-specific Community Chest and Chance cards including scenarios like Health and Safety Inspection. Pay £50, Coastal Path Repairs. Pay £100, and Fundraising Appeal Does Well. Collect £150.

The Royal Oak Foundation is the United States partner of the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  Royal Oak members gain free entry to over 200 important historic houses and gardens, 40 castles, 76 nature reserves, and six World Heritage Sites owned by the National Trust.  The Foundation supports National Trust conservation projects and offers a series of lectures and other public programs in U.S. cities on topics including British history, architecture, gardens, the fine and decorative arts – as well as other programs in the UK.  As a U.S. not-for-profit organization, membership dues and donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

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