Strategic Audience Development at Lanhydrock

Strategic analysis unlocking hyperlocal growth potential at one of Cornwall's top-performing National Trust properties

The historic gatehouse at Lanhydrock in Cornwall. — PROJECT OVERVIEW

**CLIENT:** National Trust (South West)
**ROLE:** Visitor Experience Consultant
**TIMELINE:** March - August 2023
**PROJECT TYPE:** strategic audience development / insight analysis

Outcomes and achievements

Programming transformation

Lanhydrock ditched costly one-off performance events, opting into long-running seasonal family programmes, like Summer of Play.
Midweek story time for under 5s

Lanhydrock established a regular midweek storytelling event to attract visits from parents with children under 5.
Influencing regional strategy

Cornwall identified as priority area in the National Trust South West's regional audience development plan for addressing unequal access and underserved audiences.
Clear, actionable reporting

I delivered a navigable analysis report complete with clear recommendations, interactive sections, and colour-coded evidence, making complex data easy to digest and act on.
£170K regional investment

Analysis demonstrated significant growth headroom in hyperlocal audiences, influencing a regional decision to invest £170K in We Are Shining, a Cornwall-wide cultural engagement programme.
Lanhydrock exhibits Story Shelter

Lanhydrock exhibited We Are Shining, an artwork made with Cornish community groups, welcoming 9,820 hyperlocal visitors.

A red wood-panelled hallway with a tiled mosaic floor in Lanhydrock house in Cornwall.

Strategic context

Pre-Covid, the National Trust business model in Cornwall had grown off the back of a thriving tourist industry, with visitor numbers at an all-time high in 2019. When the pandemic blew a hole in the international and domestic tourist market, it became clear a new and more resilient business model was required.

Membership data revealed another troubling pattern. While Cornwall boasted high local membership penetration, these people rarely ventured beyond the pay barrier, preferring instead to use their membership for free access to coastal landscape carparks.

A new approach was needed - one that built year-round local engagement and ended unequal access to Cornwall's places. Regional management focus shifted to Lanhydrock: one of the top-performing properties in Cornwall.

THE BRIEF

The task was to conduct an in-depth review of Lanhydrock’s current and historic performance to identify potential for and barriers to business growth.

Recommendations were sought to shape an audience development plan with regional objectives to drive sustainable growth and to improve access for local Cornish audiences.

With organizational pressure to return to 2019 performance levels and a stronger national emphasis on access and inclusion, this work was strategically critical.

Growth modelling showed that Lanhydrock was performing 'the frontier' of top performing places in capturing visitors within a 60-120+ drive time, demonstrating little remaining headroom for growth among domestic tourists.
Lanhydrock performed under the national average in capturing visits from people living within 0-30 minutes of the property. Growth modelling identified headroom for 83K additional visits from this hyper-local audience.
The repeat visit rate for locals on the wider estate is high (3.5–5.1 visits), but this drops to only 2.0 visits inside the pay barrier, suggesting locals are not currently motivated to engage with Lanhydrock's core offer.

CAMILLA’S APPROACH

Performance analysis

I conducted comprehensive data analysis using National Trust internal dashboards to examine visitor numbers, demographics, consumer profiles, repeat visit rates, seasonality, and arrival patterns. I analysed visitor feedback from surveys, social media, and TripAdvisor to identify satisfaction trends.

Growth modelling

Collaborating with central data analysts, I pulled comparative performance reports against similar properties nationally, identifying headroom for growth, historic performance spikes, and local non-visiting member profiles.

Easy access reports

I composed easy-to-navigate analysis reports for each property with actionable recommendations for audience development.

Audience development workshops

I presented findings through workshops with the Lanhydrock team and regional management. We explored how evidence-based changes to their visitor experience could build a more resilient and accessible business at Lanhydrock.