A HOLIDAY let that attracted a batch of objections has opened in Mickley.

Riding Dene Lodge has now been listed on the rental site Airbnb.

Plans to convert the garage at Riding Dene House were approved in September of last year - on the condition that a window was removed and another was double-glazed and glazed in level three or above Pilkington obscure glazing or equivalent.

READ MORE: https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/23037247.warm-hub-scheme-planned-wark/

Julie Fleckenstein submitted the planning application for the site  - a former home gym - to promote tourism in Northumberland.

Thirty-three letters of objection were received from 11 properties when the plans were first mooted with concerns centring around insufficient car parking and an increase in traffic on the local road network.

Other objections concerned the impact on the amenity of occupiers of neighbouring properties. One said the application had "created a rift in our previously pleasant community."

Three letters in support were also received from three properties, citing the economic benefits of providing holiday accommodation and a lack of existing car parking issues on Bewick Garth.

"We've already got a booking in from someone outside the area", said Mrs Fleckenstein, who also has a holiday cottage on the Northumberland coast. "It's ideal for the Tyne Valley area; there's hardly anything around this immediate area. 

"It's for two people, it's not a big party house. You can come and go as you please, it's like a home from home.

"I think people have really started to appreciate this country, people are starting to go back abroad, but it's no hardship if you don't. It'll be a luxury as bills go up.

"People have travelled to places in this country that they'd have never thought to go. The pandemic has made makes people appreciate what they have on their doorstep."

Mrs Fleckenstein said that the country-style rental, which has one bedroom, a bathroom, a living area and a kitchen, has had inquiries from people wanting to provide homes to Ukrainians and is ideal for workers, walkers or people with a small dog. 

She added: "Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I did everything by the book.

"People won't even know if someone is in there; the people objecting to it, it's not affecting them in any way shape or form."