Combe Garden Centre near Honiton, which opened in December, is seeking planning permission for an 82-seater restaurant.

It has submitted an application to East Devon District Council for change of use permission to allow a ‘comfortable and stylish’ eatery to be added.

Centre manager James Trevett said he was waiting to hear back from the planning department but had been exploring design and layout ideas.

“It’s not a forgone conclusion that we will in fact get the change of use permission but we have everything crossed right now,” he said. If a decision is made by mid-February as expected, the extension could be be open by the end of April.

“We’d like the restaurant to stand out from the crowds, a comfortable stylish space with a local and fresh feel to the food. We have so much great local produce available to us in the area and we really want to tap into this,” he told the Midweek Herald online.

The garden centre build was plagued by lengthy delays after a section of a Bronze Age settlement dating back more than 3,000 years was unearthed.

The centre, at Gittisham, is owned by the family-run Combe Estate, which covers 5000 acres of woodland and farmland.