A Cotswold business and home which recently changed hands after being marketed for nearly £2m will see a dramatic change of retail offer - if planners back a bid for major changes to the address.

New owners of the former railway and model crafting shop at Box Bush House, located in a prime retail spot on Bourton-on-the-Water's High Street, will transform the premises by launching a sandwich shop and gelateria in the front section, while a delicatessen and café will fill remaining space to the rear of the property.

The prime retail site, which sits within an extensive six-bedroomed, 17th-century Grade II-listed property, saw the closure of its popular model railway shop when its owners retired, the venue featuring an exhibition railway show that drew tourists to the Cotswold visitor hotspot

The retail change is being sought as part of broad refurbishment works, including conversion of part of the building into four flats, new rear extensions and a cottage, which would be built on the site of "unsightly" garages at the rear of the property.

In a design and access statement, Cirencester agents Yiangou Architects said: "ThIs application is for proposed alterations and extensions to Box Bush House, a property fronting on to the Bourton-on-the-Water High Street and overlooking the village green. The property consists of a retail commercial unit on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors and to the rear of the site. The site area is approximately 0.38 acres and includes rear access off Moore Road to parking, garages and a garden. Separate rear access is provided to a self contained first floor apartment.

Box Bush House has undergone various changes over the years, they added, while more recent alterations "have had a detrimental impact on the historic fabric and the setting of the listed building."

They said: "The modern building extensions to the rear of the property have been particularly poorly designed and built and this application includes for stripping back much of the poor construction, to expose and conserve what's left of the historic fabric of significance, and to replace demolished buildings with new structures sympathetically designed to be in keeping with the local vernacular architecture.

"The design brief was to refurbish the building to provide commercial accommodation on the ground floor, which is to include an artisanal sandwich shop and gelateria in the front section, and a Delicatessen and Cafe to the remaining retail space to the rear. The existing flat roof courtyard infill extension is to be demolished and a new extension built to accommodate the cafe and provide links through to a rear courtyard garden."

Detailing the bid for the café area, they added: "The removal of the poorly constructed existing flat roofs allows a new single storey extension to be built in their place. This is designed so it feels like a covered courtyard with a large central glazed lantern in the middle and all the existing stone rubble walls of the flanking historic building remaining exposed to view. The end wall of the extension is to have glazed doors that open out to the courtyard garden beyond."

The rear garden was described as "currently unsightly," while "demolition of the garages and car port and the removal of overgrown Leyladii trees will open up the space", while proposals to re-landscape the garden area, provide an improved parking forecourt for the apartments and to build a small cottage on an area of land to the rear, would "enhance the view of the site from the Moore Road". 

They added: "The cottage is designed to be in keeping with the Cotswold vernacular and constructed using traditional stone walling and roof slates."

A spokeswoman for the village's parish council said that the planning bid will be discussed tomorrow (Wednesday December 13th), with members of the public invited to attend.