Repairs under way at Pride and Prejudice location

Work is under way to repair a National Trust site used as the backdrop of Pride and Prejudice.

The £800,000 project at Stourhead in Wiltshirewill see steel beams installed around the lake's dam to stop it leaking.

The dam was built 250 years ago to create a lake as a part of Henry Hoare's vision of 'Paradise Valley'. The lakeside Temple of Apollo was where Mr Darcy first proposed to Elizabeth Bennet in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Stourhead's general manager Philip Normand said the work was "about safeguarding a masterpiece of Georgian design for everyone to enjoy, now and for the future".

Isolated leaks were detected in 2022 and repaired, but continued surveying has shown the dam has allowed water through its embankment wall, with small sinkholes fenced off.

The National Trust said repairs were needed to avoid "a disastrous burst."

Specialist contractors have started the repairs, which include installing 4.5m (14ft) steel piles spanning approximately 50m (164ft) of the 220m (721ft) dam.

"The lake at Stourhead is the heart of the garden's design and a vital part of its heritage," said Nigel Hellier, National Trust project manager.

He said the dam holds the equivalent of 70 Olympic swimming pools worth of water and is under "constant pressure".

"A small leak can become a bigger problem, so these repairs are essential to maintaining the integrity and beauty of this historic landscape," he added.

While a small section of the lakeside walk near the dam is closed during the works, the majority of paths remain open.

Two new walking routes have been introduced to bypass the closed section of the lake. One at Aeneas's Walk, which takes in the Temple of Flora, Grotto and Pantheon and another called Apollo's Walk, which passed the Temple of Apollo.

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