National Trust plans for solar farm at Wiltshire landmark

The Trust wants to power the Grade I listed Stourhead House and associated buildings with electricity generated by a one-and-a-half hectare solar farm adjoining the tourist attraction.

The Trust says the scheme will "generate renewable energy for 40 years, to directly supply the National Trust's buildings, visitors' facilities, and estate operations at Stourhead."

It adds that the scheme will "significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels," and "support the Trust's net zero ambitions by 2030," saving 112 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

In an application for planning permission to Wiltshire Council, the Trust says the solar farm would be shielded from most of the famous lakeside gardens by trees.

The site "avoids any direct intervisibility with the most visited and celebrated parts of the Park and Garden," says the Trust.

It wants to build the solar farm on an agricultural field known as Brimbles. The site is next to a field called Cockerells, which adjoins the visitor car park and is sometimes used as an overflow car park.

The 300 panels would stand at three metres tall. The site would be surrounded by a 2.4 metre high fence and monitored by CCTV.

A heritage impact assessment says there are 19 scheduled monuments within a 3km radius of the proposed development site.

The closest is the Bristol High Cross, which is one of the first scheduled monuments that visitors see when they enter the grounds.

Stourhead began as the medieval manor of Stourton, bought by London banker Henry Hoare in 1717–20 and rebuilt as one of England’s earliest Palladian‑style country houses.

In the mid‑18th century his son, Henry 'the Magnificent' Hoare, created the now‑famous landscape garden, damming the River Stour to form the lake and adding classical temples, grottoes and designed vistas that made Stourhead an early “must‑see” for picturesque tourism.

After a major fire in 1902, the house was restored, and in 1946 Sir Henry Hugh Hoare transferred the house, main gardens and about 2,300 acres to the National Trust, securing its long‑term public access.

Today, Stourhead is Wiltshire's third most-visited tourist attraction, behind Stonehenge and Longleat and ahead of Salisbury Cathedral.

Around 400,000 people a year enjoy the house and grounds.