The National Trust is researching the links to slavery that an estimated one in six of its properties has, to give visitors an honest and balanced picture.

The research, dubbed Colonial Countryside, is being carried out by Leicester University over the next five years, and up to 100 children aged 10 and 11 from African, Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds will be advising the Trust how best to put the findings over to children.

Aspects under discussion include the looting of treasures from overseas, mahogany furniture made by African slaves, slave-owners’ illegitimate colonial children and the shipping of live turtles from Jamaica to make soup for the rich.