English Heritage launches campaign including Belsay Hall

English Heritage has launched a campaign to revive postcard-writing, with visitors to Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens among those invited to take part.

The charity has commissioned three limited-edition postcards, two by Nick Sharratt and one by Sir Quentin Blake, which are available free at 18 historic sites across the UK.

Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens is the only site in the North East taking part in the campaign.

One of the new postcards was designed by Nick Sharratt, author and illustrator of children's books including Jacqueline Wilson's Tracy Beaker (Image: Jim Holden)

Matt Thompson, conservation, curatorial and learning director at English Heritage, said: "The postcard was once as much a part of the British holiday as a bucket and spade or the drip of ice cream; a handwritten note dashed off from the pier or a historic landmark, stamped and posted to friends and family back home.

"But our research reveals a habit fading fast and, if this decline continues, there’s a chance it could become a distant nostalgic memory, and there’s something genuinely sad about the idea of this tradition disappearing."

Postcards were introduced to Britain in 1870, but new research suggests that only eight per cent of adults send one each year, and 52 per cent never send them at all.