A north Cumbrian pub on a popular walking and cycling route could become its village's first B&B.

Tom Coward, landlord at The Blue Bell Inn, in The Square, is asking for planning permission to create four en-suite bedrooms at the pub.

An old function room and another disused room on the first floor will be converted into three double rooms and a family room.

Apart from Dalston Hall Hotel, there is nowhere else in the village offering accommodation.

"We thought it was a prime opportunity to use the space for something different," said Tom, who took over in December 2013.

"After the first summer I thought there was a real opportunity. People phone up asking for rooms all the time.

"[Four rooms] is all we can fit in. There is no room for anymore."

In 2015 the pub underwent a £100,000 refurbishment - it included a new cellar system, a full catering kitchen and new furniture - and Tom expects to spend the same again on this project.

Tom said he thought now was as good a time as any to get his new plans underway. They are fully booked for food on Thursday to Sunday most weeks, and often have to turn people away.

"It's a really good opportunity to do it at the moment. Trade is really strong," he said.

"It's also securing the future of the pub for the community if there is another income there as well."

If granted planning permission, Tom hopes to start work on the transformation in January 2018 and have the rooms ready in time for Easter.

The function room, which is thought to have been a pool and snooker room in the 1980s, has been sat empty for decades.

Plans require walls to be removed and others constructed to create the new guest bedrooms.

Tom says the work will cause little disruption to the pub and it will not be closed.