A FORMER school boarding house at Harmans Cross is to be converted back into a four-bed home.

Peake House in Valley Road was converted to an eight-bedroom boarding house for Purbeck View School in Swanage in 2007 but has been vacant since 2021.

Prior to the school use it was a bed and breakfast business, having originally been built in the early 1900s as a home.

Corfe Castle parish council has welcomed the change of use, saying it objected to the conversion to a boarding house at the time, although the application was approved by the former Purbeck District Council planning board.

“We strongly support returning it to domestic use as this has been its function for the far greater part of its life,” said the parish council in a statement on the proposals.

The planning application says that the outside appearance of the building will remain as it is although there are many internal works needed to bring it up to modern standards.

Dorset Council planning officers says the conversion back to a home is likely to lead to less disturbance for neighbours than the previous use.