The owners of a cafe and garden centre have revealed ambitious plans to expand dining capacity, three years after buying the site.

Paul and Kay Palmer, who run Badgers Hill Farm in Chilham, want to increase the number of indoor seats from about 40 to 100 and extend their restaurant, to meet popular demand.

The couple also hope to build a new entrance to the venue as the current one is on a “dangerous” bend, and the whole project will take two years, if their planning application to Ashford Borough Council (ABC), is successful.

The parents-of-two are relatively new to the site, having purchased it in 2020, with Mr Palmer describing it as, at the time, a “poor and tired restaurant and cafe”.

However, they have since breathed new life into the venture, serving up to 300 meals a day on Saturday and Sunday when the sun is shining.

Speaking about current facilities, Mr Palmer said: “We have an ice cream van, indoor and outdoor bars, animals and we have recently built a play park for the youngsters with a seating area where people using the cafe can have food brought out.

“It is a wonderful place that suits all generations.”

Animals at the site include miniature donkeys, goats, ponies, sheep, pigs, geese and rabbits- and more are on the cards.

the business owners say the new entrance on to Canterbury Road, away from the junction with New Cut Road is a “big step forward” for them.

Mrs Palmer explained: “The current entrance is really dangerous as it is on the bend so it is an accident waiting to happen as we are so busy.

“Moving it down to the straight bit of road will be safer.”

The new access also means visitor parking will be separate from delivery vehicles.

The couple, whose children Katie, 25, and Zach, 29, work at the centre, aim to start the project in the spring but it will be completed in phases, as they juggle running the New Cut Road business.

“The car park and new entrance will be first,” Mr Palmer said.

“Then we will extend the restaurant so it will be a two-year process.

“We are open seven days a week so it is difficult to do the work.”

The planning application can be viewed on Ashford Borough Council’s planning portal by searching reference PA/2023/1710.