Andrew Threipland wants to create more than a thousand plots in woodland adjacent to his home and has also proposed a contemporary barrow, similar to the burial sites common in parts of Europe since the Neolithic era.

The candlelit chamber would be a spiritual place, Mr Threipland said, where relatives could leave the ashes of a loved one.

“Many cemeteries are gloomy and institutional and not attractive,” Mr Threipland told The Times. “There is growing demand for burial sites and sites for interred ashes in natural settings. This site will provide a beautiful location on the edge of the designed landscape. and in the scenic rolling hills above the Carse of Gowrie.”

The site, known locally as Witches’ Knowe, has space for 1,020 plots. Family members will be invited to leave small concrete slabs with brass plaques to mark lairs.