PLANS have been lodged to convert grade II historic buildings on a Cumbrian country estate that was previously at the heart of a drug conspiracy into three homes.

Nicholas and Alexandra Dent have submitted plans to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to transform the cottages and barn on Flass Home Farm near Maulds Meaburn into three homes which would be occasionally used as holiday lets.

Planning documents state: “It has been the ambition of the family for very many years to convert the Home Farm for their domestic use and they are now in a position to pursue their ambition – both to cement their three children (the 10th generation at Flass) to their ancestral village, to preserve Elizabeth Dent’s beautiful and high quality creation and as a revenue generating holiday let for parts of the year to repay the significant investment that will be required and as a source of local employment.

“As the Lyvennet Valley does not have the obvious tourist draw of the Lake District, the owners believe that a very high specification is necessary in order to attract the professionals of London and Manchester to this beautiful spot.”

Flass House was built in the 17th century by the Dent family and the construction of a courtyard around the old barn was commissioned by Elizabeth Dent in the 1840s.

Flass House was later used by a drugs gang who between June 2011 and May 2012 cultivated 63.25kgs of cannabis which police calculated had a value of up to £5.2 million.

The gang were later found guilty of conspiracy to supply cannabis by Carlisle Crown Court in 2015.

According to planning documents the plans will balance modern technology with the historic heritage of the site.

The design, access and heritage statement says: “It is acknowledged that whilst the Farms solar credentials will be without reproach there is a balance to be kept in counter posing a modern technology against an historic structure. Accordingly, it is proposed to restrict the use of solar panels to the private facing courtyard so the passing visitor will only see the same Flass Home Farm that has been there for over 300 years.

“In short, the design of Flass Home Farm is a balance between minimal intervention and the very sharpest of renewable technologies. In that sense the Dent family hope the scheme will become an exemplar of what can be achieved with forward thinking conservation.”

Plans were lodged with the Yorkshire Dales National Park on December 11.