Property developer John Hesketh has unveiled proposals to create a £6 million business centre and holiday homes complex in the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside.

And at the core of his plans will be "live and work" homes where people will reside as well as carry out their professions, helping to cut down on travel to work carbon emissions.

Mr Hesketh's company Hesketh Berkeley Group has bought run down Vine Tree Farm in the village of Teddington, near Bishop's Cleeve and the surrounding 61 acres of farm land in a stunning setting.

He has already restored the 16th century farmhouse which is being used for holiday lets. He hopes to convert a former piggery into 12 live and work units for people such as designers, architects and lawyers. There will also be a conference/ exhibition centre with meeting rooms for use by the business people living on the site and 12 holiday cottages.

He hopes to make use of solar power to add to the site's green credentials for the mixed farming, residential and business complex as well as planting an orchard and vineyard for producing cider and wine.


"It is a bit like a medieval village. There is a great advantage in the live and work units because there is no C02 produced and you are in the country. We like to bring buildings back to real use rather than put them in aspic," he said

"We have spent some time anguishing over what is the appropriate development here."

Mr Hesketh's company has a reputation for the sympathetic restoration and re-use of older and often historically or architecturally listed buildings.

His group's HQ is the magnificent Barham Court business centre near Maidstone in Kent and he also restored The Maltings in Hadlow,near Tonbridge. The group has several other business centres around the country.

Mr Hesketh has a fascinating background- he was previously an economist in the Australian Treasury and later a senior senior economic diplomat with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Subsequently he was MD of Forex Research in charge of forecasting foreign exchange and interest rates. In 1984 he combined his interests in finance and architecture to to set up Hesketh Homes, the Berkeley Business Centre Groups and other property development companies describing himself as an "opportunist and entrepeneur."

He believes the Vine Tree Farm development will be sympathetic to the environment of the area and also help provide a boost to the local economy.

"We take a lot of time preparing our plans," said Mr Hesketh. "The environment here is absolutely critical. We are a niche developer. We believe the economic benefits this will bring to this area will not be insignificant."

Now it will be up to Tewkesbury borough planners to decide whether the scheme can go ahead when formal proposals are submitted to the authority next Spring.

Views and suggestions on the proposals can be sent to info@vinetreefarm.co.uk