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Cookies

Find out what cookies are and how they are used on the National Trust for Scotland website.

Cookies and Analytics

When you visit our website (nts.org.uk), with your consent, we use cookies to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns, through the use of analytics. We do this to understand the number of visitors to our website and the popularity of different pages. The information is processed in a way that does not directly identify anyone.

What are cookies and pixels?

A cookie is a small piece of text sent to and stored in your browser. A pixel, often referred to as a tag, is a block of code placed within our website’s code. When we refer to cookies on our website and in our policies, we are referring to both cookies and pixels.

Cookies and pixels enable us to recognise your device or monitor information about user behaviour to see how you use our website or interact with our advertising. This helps us to ensure the security and performance of our website as well as determine what is popular and deliver the most appropriate content for you.

To comply with data protection and electronic marketing laws, we must tell you when we use cookies and pixels on our website, tell you what they are and how they work, and in most cases, seek your consent to use them. Consent is not required where the cookies and pixels are necessary for:

  • carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network
  • the provision of an information society service (eg a service over the internet) requested by the subscriber or user

This means we do not need consent for:

  • cookies used to remember the goods a user wishes to buy when they add them to their online basket or proceed to the checkout on our website
  • session cookies providing security that is essential to comply with data protection security requirements for an online service the user has requested – eg online payments processing
  • load-balancing cookies that ensure the content of the page loads quickly and effectively by distributing the workload across several computers

We use a cookies tool on our website which asks users to opt in for cookies that are not considered necessary (please refer to the tables below for further information). This tool enables you to accept marketing and/or analytics cookies, or neither, and save your preferences; or you can accept the recommended settings. In accepting recommended settings, this will switch all marketing and analytics cookies on and close the cookie controller. You can change your settings at any time by visiting this page.

Our purposes for processing this information is to ensure that content from our website is presented in the most effective way for you and your device; to enable you to participate in interactive features on our website; to maintain and monitor the performance of our website; and to continually look to improve our website and your website experience. Our lawful basis for this processing is either your consent or our legitimate interests (for cookies that are deemed necessary).

Third party cookies

We sometimes embed content from social media and other third-party websites into our website. As a result, when you visit a page containing such content, you may be presented with cookies from these websites and these third-party cookies may track your use of our website. We do not control these cookies, so we would recommend that you check the relevant third party’s website for more information.

Who will have access to your data and who will we share it with?

The National Trust for Scotland may work with other companies that use cookies to collect information regarding your interaction with our website. This information may be used to serve you National Trust for Scotland advertisements that may be of interest to you when you visit other websites, for example on Facebook.

We also work with an affiliates marketing company for the purposes of recording, validating and reporting on successful transactions after clicking on a Trust advertisement on another website. We have a contract in place to govern the lawful handling of this data. Please refer to the AWIN Privacy Policy for further information.

AWIN Privacy Policy

Our website is hosted by a third party. They will have access to your information for the purposes of managing your interaction with the website and investigating any difficulties with using the website. We have a contract in place to govern the lawful handling of this data. Please refer to the Dentsu Creative Privacy Policy for further information.

Dentsu Creative Privacy Policy

Further information about the use of third party cookies and the sharing of cookie data with third parties can be found in the tables below.

What cookies do we use?

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We’d also like to set optional marketing and analytics cookies to personalise your visit to the website and help us improve it. We won’t set optional cookies unless you enable them or accept our recommended settings.

Necessary cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality on our website. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Table 1: Necessary cookies

Swipe to view table

Name

Purpose

Duration

SimpleSAMLAuthToken

To enable efficient interaction with the website. It tracks the current session ID and assists with session-fixation protection for My Trust by identifying if user has already authorised or otherwise.

Session

SimpleSAMLSessionID

To enable efficient interaction with the website. It tracks the current session ID and assists with session-fixation protection for My Trust by creating an ID associated with the user session.

Session

CraftSessionId

To enable efficient interaction with the website. It is used to recognise the same user within a session as they navigate the site.

Session

CRAFT_CSRF_TOKEN

To improve security of the site by helping to prevent any cross-site request forgery ie malicious exploitation of website by users.

Session

PHPSESSID

To enable efficient interaction with the website. On the website it is used to establish a user session and to pass state data via a temporary cookie.

Session

section_data_idsBrowser caching. Stores customer-specific information related to shopper-initiated actions such as display wish list, checkout information, etc.1 day
private_content_versionBrowser caching. Appends a random, unique number and time to pages with customer content to prevent them from being cached on the server.10 years
mage-messagesTracks error messages and other notifications that are shown to the user, such as the cookie consent message, and various error messages. The message is deleted from the cookie after it is shown to the shopper.1 day
recently_compared_productStores product IDs of recently compared products.1 day
product_data_storageStores configuration for product data related to Recently Viewed / Compared Products.1 day
recently_compared_product_previousStores product IDs of previously compared products for easy navigation.1 day
recently_viewed_productStores product IDs of recently viewed products for easy navigation.1 day
mage-cache-sessidThe value of this cookie triggers the clean-up of local cache storage.1 day
mage-cache-storage-section-invalidationForces local storage of specific content sections that should be invalidated.1 day
mage-cache-storageLocal storage of visitor-specific content that enables e-commerce functions.1 day
hide-site-bannerTo determine whether to show site-wide notification banner or not.Session
nts-form-dismissedTo determine whether to show sign-up form or not.1 year

Table 2: Necessary cookies (Third Party)

Swipe to view table

Name

Purpose

Duration

ApplicationGatewayAffinity

To improve website performance and route traffic to the website. It is set by Microsoft as it runs on the Windows Azure cloud platform.

Session


Marketing cookies

We use marketing cookies to personalise your visit to our website and show you tailored advertising based on your likes and interests. For example, showing you places to visit and events in your location.

Table 3: Marketing cookies

Swipe to view table

NamePurposeDuration
_aw_m_15472To monitor successful conversions from other websites to nts.org.uk using Affiliate Window.1 year

Table 4: Marketing cookies (Third Party)

Swipe to view table

Name

Purpose

Duration

_fbp

Contains a subdomain index, timestamp and random number. Used to identify browsers for the purchases of advertising and site analytics. It is set by Facebook.

90 days

uuid2Used to select and measure the performance of advertisements in the platform. It is set by Xandr (AppNexus).90 days
uidsUsed to select and measure the performance of advertisements in the platform. It is set by Xandr (AppNexus).90 days
usersynchUsed to check whether a user ID is synched with platform partners. It is set by Xandr (AppNexus).90 days
icuHelps to limit the number of times a user sees an ad. It is set by Xandr (AppNexus).90 days
anjUsed to check whether a user ID is synched with platform partners. It is set by Xandr (AppNexus).90 days

fr

Contains a User ID, Browser ID and timestamp plus other miscellaneous data. Used to deliver, measure and improve the relevancy of ads. It is set by Facebook.

90 days

_gcl

ANID

IDE

DSID

FLC

AID

TAID

exchange_uid
These cookies are used to improve the relevance of ads shown to users. They are set by Google.2 years

SRT

ServerPool

TASession

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. These cookies are also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. They are set by Tripadvisor.

Session

PMC

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

2 years

TACds

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

2 months

TART

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

4 days

TATravelInfo

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

13 days

NIDTargeting/Advertising. Allows our website to remember information that changes the way the site behaves or looks, such as your preferred language or the region you are in. This cookie can also assist you in changing text size, font, and other parts of web pages that you can personalise. It is set by Google.180 days
DV360 (Pixel)To optimise membership conversions. It is set by DV360.30 days
1P_JARTo remember recent searches and interactions to save preferences and customise ads on Google websites. It is set by Google.30 days

Analytics cookies

We use analytics cookies to monitor visitor behaviour patterns and improve our website performance. For example, if we are running an advertisement on a third party website, analytics cookies will help us to understand if this advertising has been successful in redirecting users to our website.

Table 5: Analytics cookies

Swipe to view table

Name

Purpose

Duration

_ga

To calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the website analytics reports. It uses a unique ID for users. The activity tracked for analytical reports includes page views, e-commerce (memberships, donations and online shop transactions), downloads, use of search functionality or when a user selects specific links on the website.

2 years

_gid

To generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website by registering a unique ID. The activity tracked for analytical reports includes page views, e-commerce (memberships, donations and online shop transactions), downloads, use of search functionality or when a user selects specific links on the website.

2 days

_gat

To throttle request rate and limit requests to Google Analytics.

1 minute

_hjClosedSurveyInvitesHotjar cookie that is set once a visitor interacts with an External Link Survey invitation modal. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not reappear if it has already been shown.1 year
_hjDonePollsHotjar cookie that is set once a visitor completes a survey using the On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the same survey does not reappear if it has already been filled in.1 year
_hjMinimizedPollsHotjar cookie that is set once a visitor minimizes an On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimized when the visitor navigates through the site.1 year
_hjShownFeedbackMessageHotjar cookie that is set when a visitor minimizes or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimized immediately if the visitor navigates to another page where it is set to show.1 year
_hjidHotjar cookie that is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behaviour in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.1 year
_hjRecordingLastActivityThis gets updated when a visitor recording starts and when data is sent through the WebSocket (the visitor performs an action that Hotjar records).Session
_hjTLDTestWhen the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed.Session
_hjUserAttributesHashUser Attributes sent through the Hotjar Identify API are cached for the duration of the session in order to know when an attribute has changed and needs to be updated.Session
_hjCachedUserAttributesThis cookie stores User Attributes which are sent through the Hotjar Identify API, whenever the user is not in the sample. These attributes will only be saved if the user interacts with a Hotjar Feedback tool.Session
_hjLocalStorageTestThis cookie is used to check if the Hotjar Tracking Script can use local storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set in this cookie. The data stored in_hjLocalStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created.Under 100ms
_hjIncludedInPageviewSampleThis cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s page view limit.30 minutes
_hjIncludedInSessionSampleThis cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s daily session limit.30 minutes
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgressThis cookie is used to detect the first page view session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.30 minutes
_hjFirstSeenThis is set to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions.Session
hjViewportIdThis stores information about the user viewport such as size and dimensions.Session
_hjRecordingEnabledThis is added when a Recording starts and is read when the recording module is initialized to see if the user is already in a recording in a particular session.Session

Table 6: Analytics cookies (Third party)

Swipe to view table

Name

Purpose

Duration

_dc_gtm_To improve website performance and limit data collection on high traffic websites. It is set by Google.1 minute

__adal_ca

To attribute the name of the campaign that drove a user to the website by using the traffic source and campaign data. It is set by Adalyser.

6 months

__adal_cw

To set the conversion window and allows visitor conversions to be associated to previous website visits via a visit timestamp. It is set by Adalyser.

7 days

__adal_id

To generate a unique id to identify user devices. It is set by Adalyser.

2 years

__adal_ses

To track user sessions and conversions so that they can be attributed accordingly to TV advertising campaigns. It is set by Adalyser.

1 day

GPS

To enable tracking based on geographical GPS location by registering a unique ID on mobile devices. It is set by YouTube.

1 day

PREF

To help Google keep statistics of how the visitor uses YouTube videos across different websites by registering a unique ID. It is set by YouTube.

8 months

VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

To estimate the users’ bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. It is set by YouTube.

179 days

YSC

To keep statistics of which videos from YouTube the user has seen by registering a unique ID. It is set by YouTube.

Session

TASSK

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

179 days

TAUD

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

13 days

TAUnique

To allow the visitor to view embedded content from Tripadvisor, such as advertisements. This cookie is also used by the website to determine if visitors click on the advertisements. It is set by Tripadvisor.

2 years

CONSENTTo remember recent searches and interactions to save preferences and customise ads on Google websites. It is set by Google.1 year
cHTML - Invibes - Analytics Tag

To measure the behaviour of visitors segmented by location, gender and age, and content interest. It is triggered by the time spent on a page. It is set by Invibe.


1 year

How will we protect your data?

Unfortunately, the transmission of information over the internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us over the internet. Transmitting information over the internet is done at your own risk and you should bear this in mind when using our site, products and services online. To protect key account and financial information you provide us with online, we use a security measure known as Secure Server Layer (SSL). When you submit financial information to our site it is encrypted to provide protection.

Changing cookie preferences

You can update your cookie preferences on our website at any time, by visiting this page.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, you can use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

You can use your web browser to:

  • delete all cookies
  • block all cookies
  • allow all cookies
  • block ‘third-party’ cookies (ie cookies set by online services other than the one you are visiting)
  • clear all cookies when you close the browser
  • open a ‘private browsing’ / ‘incognito’ session, which allows you to browse the web without recording your browsing history or storing local data such as cookies (you should however be aware of the limitations of this feature in a privacy context)
  • install add-ons and plugins that extend browser functionality

You can find information about controlling cookies across different browsers below:

Microsoft Edge cookies information

Internet Explorer cookies information

Chrome cookies information

Firefox cookies information

Safari cookies information – mobile devices and desktops

Opera cookies information

Necessary cookies enable core functionality on our website. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
We use marketing cookies to personalise your visit to our website and show you tailored advertising based on your likes and interests.
We use analytics cookies to monitor visitor behaviour patterns and improve our website performance.

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