THE National Trust has brokered peace in a battle with traders in Dunster by shelving plans to open a cafe at the village's historic castle.

The charity sparked a furious war of words with its proposal - exclusively revealed in the Free Press last July - that led to the creation of an action group and a 9,500-signature petition which was handed over in a Mad Hatter's tea party procession through the village just a few weeks ago.

But on Wednesday, the trust revealed it had concluded the on-site catering idea was not a sound investment at this time.

While it voiced its disappointment at the decision, opponents declared they were deeply relieved.

The trust said it had completed detailed survey work, including costings, which looked at the potential of two sites within the castle grounds - the estate yard and the stable yard.

The results showed that the cost of creating a cafe at either location was simply not viable "at the moment".

Property manager William Wake said: "We're disappointed not to be able to go ahead as our visitors have been asking for a cafe, but building in these locations just isn't viable at present.

"Building in sensitive and historic areas is very challenging and expensive."

Mr Wake said the trust was always thorough in working through the details of a project before taking them to planning and that process had helped it make the decision not to press ahead with the scheme.

But he added: "We will continue to think about how we can respond to our visitors' needs and how we balance this with the challenge of working in such a sensitive historic place."

Christine Moore, spokesman for the Dunster Action Group which has fought the proposal from the outset, said the decision would undoubtedly be to the benefit of the village.

"We welcome this news," she said. "It's been a long haul and a lot of people have worked very hard.

"Thankfully the trust has found a way not to go ahead with this.

"The threat to the local economy has been lifted and people will be able to sleep easier in their beds."

Mrs Moore said that if the trust was looking for another site for a cafe, it would be welcome to join traders in the existing retail heart of the village.

"We have always said that we are not afraid of competition and if the trust wanted to take over an existing shop we would welcome it - all we wanted was a level playing field.

"I'm sure the trust has come to realise that anything outside of the retail area would be devastating to our precious community."

Mrs Moore said opponents of the cafe proposal now looked forward to working with the trust and moving forward for the benefit of all.

Campaigners had accused the trust of threatening their livelihoods and claimed having an on-site facility would turn the grade one listed castle into a one-stop visitor attraction and lead tourists to bypass the village altogether.

They said Dunster already had 14 places where people could eat and that the trust should lease an existing business if it wanted to expand into catering.

But the trust insisted having a cafe within the grounds was what visitors wanted and it believed it could increase the number of people attracted to the castle each year by 10,000.

It said the historic property cost more than £500,000 a year to maintain and run and it commissioned research to gauge the likely impact its proposal would have on the local economy and on visitor numbers to both the castle and the village.

The results, revealed just a couple of months ago, showed that 90 per cent of respondents said having refreshments available at the castle would not affect their likelihood to visit the village.

But it also showed that it would have a significant impact on existing catering outlets in the village.