PLANS to build four homes and a holiday cottage at a coaching inn have been submitted to Durham County Council.

Mark Hobson and his wife have submitted the plans which involve demolishing barns and part of a barn wall while reinstating an enclosed yard with converted barns and new buildings at The Ancient Unicorn, in Bowes, Teesdale.

The couple want to demolish a barn “of poor quality and no historical or architectural merit” in order to construct a new building to re-enclose the yard.

They are also proposing to demolish the walls to remove the ruins of a collapsed barn.

If the plans are approved the vacant site will have two tow-bedroomed houses and two three-bedroomed houses.

Seven car parking spaces will also be created at the site.

In a design and access statement the new buildings, extensions and conversions are said to have been designed to “complement the architectural style of the existing barns, utilising appropriate materials, finishes and detailing to reflect the period character of the setting and the scale of built form on site.”

The finishing materials will also match those of the existing buildings; roofing

finishes in stone and Welsh Slates, walls of random rubble sandstone, treated

hardwood supports on glazed extension, painted hardwood windows and black

cast iron rainwater goods.

Archaeological Services Durham University also carried out an archaeological evaluation at the site which found evidence of Roman activity and recommended a programme of archaeological recording be carried out.