ONE of Cumbria’s remotest properties, Skiddaw House, is turning to the sun to provide electricity and cut its carbon footprint.

The house, which is 1550 ft above sea level and nearly three miles from the nearest road, could soon be obtaining power from the sun with a series of measures for which the Skiddaw House Foundation is currently seeking planning approval.

The Foundation says there is some urgency for a speedy decision by Lake District National Park planners in order to meet the deadline for grant assistance.

The project involves installing a bank of solar photo-voltaic modules and solar thermal panels and five sun pipe systems to light wash up areas and toilets in the rear lean-to.

The panels will be fixed to the existing roof at the back of Skiddaw House facing a copse of trees and consultants say there will not be any viewpoints where they will be visible. There is a considerable amount of the day when power from the sun can be obtained.

Skiddaw House does not have mains electricity and relies on a generator which runs on LPG gas and has a carbon footprint. Considerable benefits arise in terms of reducing carbon emissions and making use of the hostel much more comfortable, says Brian Barden, the consultant.

The house dates back to the 1820s when it was built by Lord Egremont as a keeper’s lodge for Skiddaw Forest. It later Leconfield Estate was sold in the 1950s and the land was bought by a farmer and the building used until 1986 to became a residence for gamekeepers and shepherds, notably Pearson Dalton who lived on his own in the house for five days every week until he left in 1969 at the age of 75.accommodate local schools on field trips and by the Border Bothies Association.

The building was later leased to businessman John Bothamley who handed it over to the Youth Hostels Association and it operated as a simple hostel until 2002.

YHA warden Martin Webster’s initiative led to the re-opening of the house in 2007 as an independent hostel and the Friends of Skiddaw House group was reformed and incorporated as the Skiddaw House Foundation, a registered charity, to run the property as a hostel while retaining the principles of the YHA.

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