Lonelyleap’s history of championing authenticity in filmmaking was going to be crucial. If we could pull this off, our audience might just go from being passive day-trippers to passionate brand activists. But we could only get there if we were honest and transparent with them. We needed stories that let real characters shine through. Films that celebrated - not the National Trust itself - but the tangible, human benefits places were having on real people’s emotions and livelihoods. We weren’t advertising the brand; we were letting the benefits speak for themselves.

Following months of research and close collaboration with the National Trust’s creative team, we identified three real stories of people whose lives had been profoundly touched by one of their places. There was Kevin and Ged - a father and his autistic son who walk the Durham coast 365 days a year; an old age pensioner called Margaret living in Hackney, refusing to conform to the stereotypes of old; and Anne-Marie - founder of a women’s charity in Africa, whose childhood years spent visiting Florence Nightingale’s home changed her entire outlook on life.