Burghley House experiences huge increase in visitors
The stately home saw an 86% increase in visitors last year
Last updated 18th Mar 2024
Burghley House has seen the biggest increase in visitors out of anywhere in England according to new figures.
The stately home in Stamford was built by William Cecil, the 1st Baron Burghley and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, in the 16th century.
According to its website, Burghley House is a "testament to the ambition and vision of the most powerful courtier of the first Elizabethan age."
New figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has released the visitor figures of its members for 2023.
The House in Stamford saw the largest percentage increase in England, moving 26 places with an 86% increase to 154,827 visitors.
This is being partly attributed to the introduction of an adventure playground.
What about elsewhere in the county?
The total number of visits to ALVA sites in 2023 was 146.6million, which was a 19% increase on the previous year (123.6 million).
However, this still represented a decline of 11% on the 163.9 million visits in 2019 to the top 374 ALVA sites.
The most-visited attraction in the UK was the British Museum which saw 5,820,860 visits - a 42% increase on 2022 numbers.
This is being attributed in part to the success of the China’s hidden century exhibition that ran from May to October.
Attractions that offered heavily discounted tickets for recipients of Universal Credit from February 2023 onwards included ZSL London Zoo who saw a 27% increase in visitor numbers to 1,327,902.
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo saw a 18% increase to 893,450 visitors.
During the year, English Heritage worked with foodbanks to offer users free entry to the charity’s sites.