Exciting plans to transform the Old Vicarage at Cleator into a restaurant, spa and accommodation, have been revealed.

The ambitious scheme includes log cabins, a camping area, an outdoor event space and bar, as well as a fairy garden for children and a memorial garden to remember loved ones.

Inside the main house, there will be 11 bedrooms available for accommodation, along with the restaurant and bar, and a spa will be created in the cellar.

Eileen Stamper, who grew up in Egremont, is behind the exciting project, after buying the property in 2018.

The 40-year-old said: “In West Cumbria, we haven’t got anything at all like it.

“I lived in Edinburgh for five years and then London for 10 years. When you come back, you’re always really limited to where you could go unless you can drive out.

“I want it to be accessible for everybody. I want it to be a community hub as well. There’s all kinds of lovely wildlife.

“I don’t want it to be somewhere that people feel they are out of place. People can come here in their walking boots, or if they fancy something different, they can come in and have their smart dress or suit on in the restaurant.

“I could literally be booked out for five years with all the messages I’ve been getting.”

The building, which is believed to date back to 1875, has about ten acres of land and is on the Wainwright coast to coast walk.

Eileen said: “There are so many things I keep finding. It’s just steeped in history.”

The cellar was previously used as a morgue and Eileen recently found out that a separate part of the cellar would also have been used as a jail cell, after her friend’s children discovered some leather shackles there.

“When asking about it, a historian from Liverpool told me that the vicar would have been classed as the local magistrate so they would have used that as a jail,” she said.

“When the architects came, what I thought was a trough in the back garden is a grave.”

Eileen said she “instantly” fell in love with the property after going to see it for the first time with her dad.

She mentioned it to a friend, who told her it was her auntie who was selling the house.

“I got to see it before it went up for sale,” Eileen explained. “I was outbid twice but they liked the plans that I had. They accepted my offer.

“My mam grew up in the old Catholic priory in Cleator which has been knocked down, and now I’ve got the old vicarage.”

Eileen hopes to submit a planning application to Copeland Council at the end of the month.