Gosford Park Syndrome: go see the movie, but please don't peek at one's stately home

They are happy to take our entrance money at their gates, or hire out their sumptuous drawing rooms for exclusive soirees. Each year, they qualify for millions of pounds in tax relief by offering a fleeting glimpse of their art collections to a handful of visitors. But if you thought they might allow you to admire their sprawling country piles at your leisure, you can forget it.

The owners of some of England's most impressive stately homes, including Robert Byng, whose house features in the star-studded film Gosford Park, are opposing plans to make photographs of their properties available on the internet.

The cause of their grievance is Images of England, a website launched by English Heritage, the Government-funded custodian of our historic landmarks. Over the past two years, the quango has quietly photographed more than 120,000 townhouses, cottages, mansions and castles as part of an on-going project aimed at improving public access to all 360,000 of the country's listed buildings.

While some have welcomed the initiative, others are alarmed at what they view as an invasion of their privacy. Many believe that the simple, often hazy, snapshots featured on the website, all of them taken by unpaid volunteers, pose a security risk.

So far, English Heritage has received 343 objections, ranging from furious letters and phone calls to threats of legal action. Among those who have voiced protests is the Historic Houses Association, whose members include Blenheim Palace, the Oxfordshire birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, Longleat in Wiltshire, the seat of Lord Bath, and Castle Howard in North Yorkshire.

The scale of the rebellion is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that many of those whose homes feature on the site have no idea that this is the case. As the majority of listed properties are visible from public highways, English Heritage has been able to take a large number of photographs without having to alert their owners.

Robert Byng, the 39-year-old inheritor of Wrotham Park, the 18th-century Hertfordshire mansion that provides the setting for Robert Altman's new film, first learnt about the project when approached by The Independent on Sunday. He immediately dismissed it as "absolutely absurd". "It's a gross intrusion of one's privacy," he said. "It's hard to see too much of my house from the main road and I haven't been asked yet to allow anyone on to my land to take pictures, but I would definitely refuse permission."

Mr Byng, whose Grade II* listed house overlooks a 2,500-acre estate, has his own website, which proudly displays his baronial family seat in all its neo-classical glory. Though not open to the public, the mansion is described as "an excellent venue for private parties, corporate hospitality events, banquets, receptions, boardroom luncheons and meetings". However, its owner maintains it is his prerogative alone to decide which clientele should be allowed to view the property

Gosford Park is not the first movie to have been filmed at Wrotham. Others include two versions of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Ken Russell's Gothic, Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends and Bridget Jones's Diary. However, Mr Byng sees the cachet accrued by such projects as a double-edged sword. Every lucrative new film proposition brings thousands of tourists.

The former Tory MP Teresa Gorman, who lives in a Tudor farmhouse in Essex, said the website added to the "burdens" already heaped on the owners of listed homes. Ms Gorman, who with her husband was fined £6,000 five years ago for altering the Grade II house without permission, said: "This is an invasion of privacy. The restrictions on what listed home owners can do is already a massive invasion of the rights of people who consider themselves private owners of property."

Viscount Bridgeman, who lives at Grade II Watley House near Winchester, said: "Security is the first thing that goes through my mind. I would need to be sure that there were safeguards. There is an intrusive element that I don't like."

In recognition of the growing concern, English Heritage is to ask the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is financing the scheme, for permission to consider exemptions. Under the compromise arrangement, those who did not want their homes photographed would be given a 10-year delay before they were posted on the net.

Nigel Clubb, director of the National Monuments Record, which is overseeing the project, said: "Even if we don't place photos on the site we could still put written descriptions on there, because they are already a matter of public record. However, we have become more sympathetic to the concerns of a small minority of those whose homes are listed."

While the Historic Houses Association has welcomed the proposal, for others it stops well short of the climb-down they were hoping for. Baroness Byson, who raised the issue on behalf of a fellow peer in the House of Lords, is to table more questions demanding that the exemptions be made permanent.

"This does not go far enough," she said. "I will be asking the Government what steps they propose to take to give people a true choice over whether their homes are included or not."

Jeremy Musson, architectural editor of Country Life, believes that the public is entitled to be able to view its built heritage. Citing other examples of hostility towards recording projects, he said: "Anxiety about a single exterior photograph of each listed building, mostly taken from the public highway, must surely be exaggerated. The list descriptions are dry, technical accounts, much fuller in detail than a single photograph could ever be."