THE owner of the Grade II-listed Gunstone House near Crediton is seeking planning permission to convert a barn and have a swimming pool in his garden.

The barn as it is now
The barn as it is now ((StudioExe Architects/ MDDC))

John Turner wants to turn the barn, which is next to the house, into a one-bedroom annexe.

It was built with cob and stone, likely in the early 19th century. It has “undergone much alteration”, is in “poor condition” and in its current state “detracts from the setting of Gunstone House”, planning documents say.

Interior of the barn
Interior of the barn ((StudioExe Architects/ MDDC))

Gunstone House was similarly built in the early or mid-19th century, according to its listing.

Planning documents add an earlier farmhouse may have been incorporated into the existing house, and that it represents a “much earlier tenement” occupied by the Lee family from at least the 17th to the late 19th centuries.

The barn formed part of a larger range of farm buildings and over the 20th century has been “much altered”.

Most recently, permission was granted in 2006 to turn it into a summerhouse.

This time, if Mr Turner is granted permission to convert it into an annexe, the barn’s stone and cob walls would be kept, and the rest of the building “modestly” extended.

The modern concrete-block walls would be replaced with a mix of glazed panels and rendered walls.

The mono-pitched shallow roof would also be swapped for a new pitched roof in “natural slate”.

Inside, the annexe would have one bedroom, a shower room, a utility room, a kitchen/ lounge and a small area of loft space.

It would provide “occasional-use accommodation for family and guests” and an “accessible bedroom and bathroom” could allow for “possible multi-generational living in the future”.

The new open-air swimming pool would measure five metres by 10 metres. It would have a patio area linking the pool with the annexe.

You can see the application on the Mid Devon District Council website under reference 24/01389/HOUSE.

Members of the public have until Tuesday, October 15 to comment on the proposals.

The council will decide whether to grant or refuse planning permission at a later date.

To see more public notices and planning applications, visit: publicnoticeportal.uk.