Plans to install solar panels at National Trust site

The National Trust has submitted plans to put up about 300 solar panels within a historic estate.

The charity said the scheme would provide half of the electricity needed to run Stourhead in Wiltshire, which attracts 400,000 visitors a year.

The site is made up of an 18th Century, Grade I listed country house and gardens - including the lakeside Temple of Apollo where Mr Darcy proposed to Elizabeth Bennet in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

The National Trust said the 3m (10ft) tall panels would be installed in an agricultural field called Brimbles, close to the car park.

Stourhead was bought by London banker Henry Hoare in 1717–20 and rebuilt as one of England's earliest Palladian‑style country houses.

His son later created the now‑famous garden, including the lake, classical temples and grottoes. In 1946, it was transferred to the National Trust.

The trust said the one-and-a-half hectare solar farm would "generate renewable energy for 40 years" to supply the buildings, visitors' facilities, and estate operations at Stourhead.

It said the scheme was part of its net zero target - to no longer add to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - and to tackle climate change, which it described as "the biggest long-term threat to the landscapes and historic places in our care".

In its application for planning permission to Wiltshire Council, the National Trust said the solar farm would be shielded from most of the famous lakeside gardens by trees. There would be a 2.4m (7.8ft) high fence and CCTV, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A heritage impact assessment said there were 19 scheduled monuments within a 1.8 mile (3km) radius of the proposed development site.

In a letter, Wiltshire Council's archaeology service recommended the area be surveyed because it has "potential" for "as-yet unrecorded" features.

"While no heritage assets have been recorded within the footprint of the proposed development, there have been finds relating to Mesolithic and Neolithic activity in the car park extension," it added.

An expert has also recommended a tree protection plan.

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