Ambitious plans for a £1.5 million visitor complex - including a heritage centre, bistro and microbrewery - on the edge of Hadrian's Wall have been revealed.

Businessmen David Gaddes and Ian Hunter are hoping to transform a derelict farm site in Bowness-on-Solway into the county's latest visitor attraction.

They want to capitalise on the growing interest from visitors and locals in the World Heritage Site with the quiet village sitting on top of the old Roman fort Maia.

Their plans to overhaul the site include creating a heritage centre which will document the area's well-known links with Hadrian's Wall as well its rich local history.

Also in the works is a shop, art studio, bistro with outdoor space and pizza oven as well as a raft of accommodation options.

Mr Gaddes, 49, who has lived in the village for 19 years, said he and Mr Hunter believe they have discovered a gap in the market.

"There isn't really anything there," he told The Cumberland News .

"People start walking or cycling the wall there or finish it there. But they haven't then got anything to go to.

"There are thousands of walkers going along there every year. We thought we have to put something there along there for them.

"The heritage centre will be local history predominantly, everybody has done Vindolanda and Birdoswald etc, they've seen the Hadrian's Wall stuff before.

"So we also want to show off local history, the old railway, old canals, viaduct and haaf netters fishermen, make is a bit different."

Mr Hunter bought a property in Bowness about five years ago, next door to Mr Gaddes, and the pair have since become friends and decided to work together on this venture.

"As time went on Ian has been working on buying Bowness House Farm. It was a long process with lots of negotiations backwards and forwards but it was finally bought in the summer of last year," Mr Gaddes added.

"We both had exactly the same vision, we know there will be the creation of jobs and it will be great for the area. We have the same enthusiasm for the project.

"We know all these people saying we want this to happen and it's going to."

If successful the project could create around 12 new jobs.

The project has received the backing of groups such as the Solway AONB, Visit England and Cumbria Tourism.

The businessmen are hoping to convert the old listed farmhouse into a five-bedroom "boutique hotel", targeting the higher end of the market, and a 16th century cottage on the site will also be kitted out for letting and will be called the Smugglers' Cottage.

Other old buildings will be turned into holiday lets and some of the open space will be filled with four family shepherd's huts, part of the latest "glamping" trend.

"We hope it will be a quiet site, somewhere where people can come and chill out and get away from it all. The shepherds huts are really fantastic," Mr Gaddes continued.

"Predominantly it will be our money going into this but it will be a massive boost for tourism in Cumbria and we hope to be able to tap into some funding."

They hope that a spa area and the shepherd's huts can be open by April while the visitor centre, shop, art workshop, bistro and four of the letting buildings can be ready by Christmas.

The plan is to have work begin on the "boutique hotel" early next year.

Mr Gaddes said that other parties had been interested in the site over the years but their plans had fell by the wayside.

A side project will be the creation of a microbrewery.

Mr Gaddes said: "We are looking for people who maybe have always wanted to run one, we want people to come on board with ideas.

"We will build it and fund the equipment. We know there are people out there that have those ideas."

A planning application for the scheme has been submitted with Allerdale Council.