The savvy owner of a Tudor manor house where the Michael Caine movie Sleuth was filmed has solved his £50,000 a year energy bills by going carbon neutral.
Athelhampton House in Dorset had been guzzling fossil fuels until renowned economist Giles Keating bought it in 2019.
He made the decision to remove the oil burners, gas ovens and boilers and replace them with renewable energy sources to become carbon neutral.
Permission was granted for 400 solar panels to be built on the 500-year-old estate while ground-source heat pumps were also installed.
With energy bills spiralling out of control, the Grade I listed stately home, which is also a popular tourist attraction, would have had to either increase its admission charges or close to the public.
Athelhampton House, which has 50 rooms, was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and also inspired the setting of Thomas Hardy's classic novel Far From the Madding Crowd.
Prior to installing the renewable technology the owners 'burned through oil' trying to heat the grand manor which does not have double glazing.
The solar panels, which are nestled behind trees on the sprawling 20 acre grounds, produce excess energy which is stored in Tesla batteries overnight.
Meanwhile the state-of-the-art pumps absorb heat from the ground and surrounding atmosphere and circulate it through the building.
Mr Keating, a millionaire economist, said: "Our carbon emissions from energy use were 100 tonnes a year - now they're zero.
"That's like saving 2,400 return journeys by car every year from London to Bournemouth.
"Athelhampton House has around 50 rooms, a stable building with restaurant, holiday cottage and offices - without renewables, the energy bill would be well over £50,000 a year, with them it's near zero."
To install the necessary technology they had to get planning permission from Dorset Council.
There were no objections to the adaptations provided the changes were subtle and did not visibly alter the Grade I listed building and gardens.
Without the green energy, Owen Davies, manager of the property, said they would have been forced to vastly inflate entry prices for the public.
He said: "If we had not converted to renewable energy I think we would have been looking down the barrel of a gun.
"Deciding to be more environmentally friendly meant that we got rid of our oil burners and gas cookers.
"The insulation was so bad that we were effectively trying to heat the planet when we were burning that fuel.
"When we were paying for gas it was around 19p a unit but now it has doubled to 45p.
"I think even in 2019 Mr Keating was very aware that energy was rapidly becoming a valuable commodity.
"I am very lucky that I get to manage the estate without the worry of rising prices hanging over me.
"In that respect it was a magnificent decision, we have been very fortunate.
"It really is amazing what renewable energy can do and the government needs to do more to encourage it."
The Tudor manor house at Athelhampton was built in 1485 during the reign of Henry VII by Sir William Martyn, who was the Lord Mayor of London.
In Victorian times, Thomas Hardy initially worked on it as a stonemason while apprenticed to an architect.
In his 1874 novel Far From the Madding Crowd, he used the grand manor house as Weatherbury Farm, which belonged to the main character Bathsheba.
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