In this episode I am joined by Sarah Roller, Director ofPolicy & Public Affairs at Historic Houses, working on behalf of around 1,450 independent historic houses and gardens across the UK, to represent their interests to government and the wider heritage sector, as well as to support their learning, outreach and community programmes. Prior to joining Historic Houses in early 2022, she worked for History Hit, Trent Park House and Godinton House, in roles spanning communications, digital media and collections/curation work.

We talk about how Sarah got into the industry and herthoughts on the sense of place and her love of learning how people connected with spaces and buildings, especially in a heritage context.

Sarah shares her thoughts on interpreting a building andwhat information you may use to shape the story and how this informs our work. We also discuss the work she is carrying out to help shape policies to support people who work and own traditional properties, those working in the heritage sector plus those wanting to get into the industry. We discuss the challenges, themes and misconceptions working in the heritage sector along with the usual top tipswhen working with an older property.

It will be an interesting listen for anyone embarking on a project and is looking for some guidance and anyone generally interested in older properties.