DCMS Committee visit Knebworth House

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee visited Knebworth House to hear evidence from BBC Studios, Screen Yorkshire, the Association for Leading Visitor Attractions and Historic Houses president Martha Lytton Cobbold as part of their inquiry on Promoting Britain Abroad.

Heritage and culture remains one of the UK’s biggest selling points for inbound tourism, and it was an excellent opportunity to not only state the case for historic houses to the committee, but to show them first hand the challenges that historic house businesses can face, the positive impact of the Culture Recovery Fund, the importance of historic houses to local communities and economies and the need for sustained government support as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 8 MPs present also then enjoyed lunch and a tour of Knebworth House from Martha, who gave them a flavour of Knebworth’s colourful and illustrious history. We were delighted that the Committee could find time in their busy schedules to visit Knebworth (a recognition in itself of the importance of heritage and historic houses in inbound tourism!), and look forward to seeing their recommendations when the inquiry has concluded.

The whole evidence session can be found here.