Move to ease traffic congestion near Pride and Prejudice hero Mr Darcy's stately home in Peak District

A planning application to improve the admissions hut at Lyme Park has been submitted by the National Trust to Cheshire East Council.

Thousands of visitors flock to the property each year which causes traffic tailbacks on the A6 particularly on busy weekends.

The charity hopes to mitgate this by making entry more efficient, reducing the likelihood of cars backing onto the road and lessening the environmental impact of vehicles idling while waiting.

Under the proposal, there would be an additional lane for cars and four new ‘welcome windows’ to make admissions more efficient. The charity is running test days to trial two welcome windows, an additional entry lane and ‘pay on exit’ approaches.

Kellie Scott, general manager at National Trust Lyme, said: “We’re pleased to share our plans for a new admissions hut which will allow us to improve access for our visitors, tenants and reduce our impact on neighbours and local communities. We hope this is the first step of a series of works over the coming years which will help us in our commitment to look after Lyme and to tackle the needs of the 21st century."

In February this year, the charity withdrew its application to extend the car park at Lyme which would have taken the spaces from 395 to 1085 and seen new roads over 2.8 hectares of open countryside conservation area. The application sparked 300 objections and a petition which stated that the proposal would have made Lyme the biggest permanent car surface car park in the Peak District.

Lyme offers 1400 acres of moorland, woodlands and formal gardens and is home to a herd of medieval red deer.

The beautiful house and lake featured in a BBC 1 series of Pride and Prejudice in 1994 in which author Jane Austen’s handsome hero Mr Darcy (played by Colin Firth) met quick-witted Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehle). A scene of Darcy emerging from the lake dripping wet after a swim has been voted BBC’s most memorable moment ever.