REFURBISHMENTS are set to take place at a Grade II listed, 17th Century country manor to make it fit to live in.

An application has been submitted to West Dorset District Council to make the changes at Rampisham Manor.

The owners want to demolish an existing car port, office and stores, erect a two storey extension and basement, take down an existing stone conservatory and re-construct it in a new extended form. They have also applied to change the roof covering to plain clay tile with Purbeck stone eaves course and alter former roofs, as well as widen the existing drive and construct a new double garage.

The application is an amendment to a previously approved application.

A design and access statement submitted as part of the plans reveals that the historic manor was originally built as early as 1608, and was bought by a Mr Martin in 1871. The family radically altered and extended the building, giving the house its basic form today.

It came into the hands of the Boileau family in 1948, and remains under their ownership as the centre of a farming estate.

The statement reads: “The house has now moved to the young family of the next Boileau generation. The house, while structurally sound, is dated and tired. The roofs leak, the services are antiquated, the kitchen is a formica period piece. Much of the less formal ground floor is concrete and lino. There is a good deal of remedial maintenance to undertake. A dehumidifier runs permanently in the drawing room. The wooden floors of the major ground floor rooms have damp and rot problems around their contact peripheries.”

The objective of the work, the statement adds, is to ‘restore and improve the fabric of the house, modernise its services, improve its appearance, add to its facilities and suit its layout to its use by a modern family.”

The highways and environmental health teams have been consulted and said they have no comment to make on the plans. Historic England has also been consulted and confirmed it does not wish to comment.

The plans will be discussed by a meeting of the West Dorset District Council planning committee at a date to be confirmed.