THE future of a countryside education centre in Baildon is now secure after plans to turn half of its base into an up-market guest house were approved.

The owners of Bracken Hall, which has separate classroom facilities for schoolchildren, said they were delighted.

Stuart and Sally Illingworth will lease the educational area to Baildon Council, so children can continue to enjoy trips to the beauty spot above Shipley Glen, but can begin work on creating the five-bedroom bed and breakfast.

"Finally getting planning approval is such a great relief and so exciting," Mrs Illingworth said.

"It's going to take a lot of hard graft, but we're up for the challenge.

"We have to do improvements everywhere, but it's such a great house with different views from every bedroom window.

"And it also has a lot of Baildon history, so the project is very much about the area and building up local tourism," said Mrs Illingworth.

Chartered surveyor Mr Illingworth has close ties with the property as he grew up at Bracken Hall Farm, directly behind the Hall, where his mother still lives.

"We're delighted it's been approved as now we can get on with the interior.

"We've been doing external work like improving the walls and fences and we're delighted we can improve the area by turning this into a successful guesthouse," he said.

"But we won't be changing the exterior significantly, just keeping it as a traditional quarter house as it's only 50 metres from the farm, which is a Grade II listed building.

"And all the food will be sourced locally, as I'm still part of a farming family," Mr Illingworth said.

Baildon Town Council will initially fund up to £14,000 of the yearly running costs of the countryside education centre.

Town council chairman Joe Ashton said the planning consent was very good news as the centre was now linked to a successful business prospect.

"It secures the project and our centre and allows us to co-exist on favourable terms with the agreement being that the Illingworths own the site and lease it back to us.

"Life will be easier now that the guesthouse has been approved, as then everybody has got their own long term interest in the property.

"£14,000 is the maximum budget we would spend each year with the aim of getting that down to nothing," Cllr Ashton said.

Bracken Hall was sold by Bradford Council to save money in December.

Money from the sale was spent on other public buildings across the district.