Tim's Barn near Gayle. The railings, flags and gravel drive will be removed. Photo: Yorkshire Dales NPA

A field barn in the Yorkshire Dales that was converted into a holiday cottage without permission will be stripped down to be used as a camping barn.

The national park authority approved a retrospective application to turn Tim’s Barn, overlooking the village of Gayle in Wensleydale, into basic accommodation for walkers and school groups.

The barn, off Beggarman’s Road, which links Hawes with Langstrothdale via Fleet Moss, had been turned into a fully furnished holiday home with a driveway.

The Yorkshire Dales Planning Committee was told by the barn owners’ agent Andrew Cunningham that the internal fixtures and fittings would be stripped out, and external railings, flagged areas and gravel drive removed.

He said his clients, Mr and Mrs T Crick, were keen to work with the park authority to ensure that the barn offered only ‘very basic overnight accommodation for walkers’.

North Yorkshire County Council representative John Blackie, who is also the chairman of the local parish council, Hawes and High Abbotside, recommended the committee pass the retrospective application.

He told the committee the field barn owners had tried to ‘run rings’ around the authority and ‘undermine its credibility’.

“It was the talk of the town in the upper Dales,” he said. “This was a barn which had permission to be converted into a ‘stone tent’, but which was being advertised as a five-star holiday cottage.”

He said there were no sour grapes, however, and that he wanted to support the new application, on the condition that the internal fixtures and fittings would be removed before the camping barn could receive any bookings.

This proposal was agreed and the application was approved unanimously.

The camping barn, which will have no vehicular access, will be required to operate in accordance with a management plan, which states that it will be available for booking in advance by groups seeking short-term basic accommodation.

People staying at the camping barn will need to bring their own cooking equipment and sleeping bags and mats. The accommodation will be marketed at school and walking groups.