A £305,000 scheme which could transform the village of Simonsbath into a major tourist and heritage centre will come before the Exmoor National Park Committee on Tuesday (January 8).

The authority is being recommended to spend up to £200,000 on restoring the village’s derelict White Rock Cottage and former school buildings as part of a “vision for Simonsbath” project.

This could result in the village becoming “renowned as having a unique history and an ideal place to discover the story of the Royal Forest and Exmoor”.

Authority members will be told that the cottage and school “represent important historic assets in the history of Exmoor as a whole and also in this isolated small community”.

If approved, the European-funded Western Somerset Leader programme will provide another £88,259 for the scheme and £15,000 will come from the Caremoor organisation.

This funding was put in place after a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund was turned down in 2017.

Full report in this week’s Free Press.