Go-ahead for ‘remarkable’ restaurant, wine tasting and events venue
Ambitious plans by a Gloucestershire businessman to transform a mediaeval farm beside a former Cistercian abbey into a vineyard and sophisticated visitor attraction will go ahead.
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Go-ahead for ‘remarkable’ restaurant, wine tasting and events venue
Ambitious plans by a Gloucestershire businessman to transform a mediaeval farm beside a former Cistercian abbey into a vineyard and sophisticated visitor attraction will go ahead.
By Carmello Garcia and Andrew Merrell.
“Remarkable” plans to restore and enhance historic farm buildings next to a former Cistercian monastery and create a new restaurant, winery, wine tasting and events venue in the Forest of Dean have been approved.
Peter Cooke will now go ahead with the transformation of the crumbling buildings of Home Farm, next to Flaxley Abbey near Westbury-on-Severn.
Cooke bought the mediaeval farm in 2020 and founded Kingsthorne vineyard, which is already producing award-winning wines.
The plans, which include alterations to historic buildings, a new car park and a 140-cover restaurant and cidery, were debated at a meeting of Forest of Dean District Council’s planning committee in Coleford on Tuesday (11 March 2025).
Historic England had raised concerns about the proposed car park and its potential impact on the landscape setting of the abbey, but officers recommended approval, arguing the scheme’s benefits outweighed any potential negative impact.
Cooke, who spoke to The Raikes Journal post meeting, said: “It has been a long process. Four years. But we have answered every single query. I am very pleased.
“The planning officer herself, Hannah Ramsey, said some really nice things. The committee called the project ‘remarkable’, which I imagine is unusual.”
Ramsey, the district council’s senior planning officer, told the meeting the scheme would secure restoration and repair of the listed farm buildings and provide a long-term viable use of the site.
She said it would lead to the creation of a tourism destination that would support the local economy and create jobs and income.
Weighing against the development was the potential impact on the Grade I listed abbey and the loss of a home, she said.
The adjacent Flaxley Abbey (pictured above) was originally a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1151 by Roger Fitzmiles, second Earl of Hereford, allegedly on the spot where his father, Milo, died during a hunting accident.
After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1537, the Abbey came into the hands of Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London and the superintendent at the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn.
Speaking at the meeting, Cooke told the development management committee he was proud to own a site next to what he called one of the most historic buildings in the county.
“The vision for the site is to have a fabulously family-friendly hospitality venue.
“It will deliver a ‘wonderful visitor experience with wine tasting’,” said Cooke, who is the owner and founder of Quedgeley-based business Sanctus.
The company describes itself as “the country’s leading environmental consultant and contractor working on some of the most challenging brownfield and blue/green infrastructure programmes and projects across the UK”.
Its last set of registered accounts, for year to June 2023, show a business with turnover of £8.5 million and rising, a £1 million annual profit after tax and in the region of 30 staff.
The redevelopment of Home Farm, said Cooke, would be done with a “soft touch” and entail the site’s “sympathetic restoration”. As well as the old farm house, there are 10 outbuildings to restore, including stables, and only one new-build - a kitchen.
The project is also focused firmly on sustainability.
He told the meeting he aimed to restore the site to its former glory. The work will also include planting additional hedges and trees.
“We plan to restore and enhance the historic Blaisdon plum orchard,” he added.
Cooke told Raikes he came across the site by accident and had not been looking for anything on quite the scale of Home Farm.
“I was looking for additional fields. I have two other vineyards, and I wanted some land for more.
“It had to be land on a south facing slope. I was looking for 20 to 30 acres, and this is 140 acres.
“But when I came here I turned down the valley and it is simply stunningly beautiful countryside.
“I fell in love with it and began to see the potential for the buildings, which are not your usual old farm buildings.”
Plans include cider making, making the site as family friendly as possible, opening up the estate for walking, and there is even a plan for a venue in Cheltenham serving tapas and Kingsthorne wine.
Kingsthorne has already won awards for its wine, with a winners medal, a silver and a bronze in last years WineGB West awards.
Raikes has also seen the staging website for Kingsthorne, which carries the brands of its partners - the Environment Agency, SWAG, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, GNFC (Gloucestershire Nature and Climate Change Fund) and the WWT (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust).
It also features stunning drone shots across the estate - and it reveals Kingsthorne’s other secret weapon, viticulturist Simon Day, described as quite simply ‘the most experienced winemaker in the UK’.
And there is first sight of what will become an on-line shop and other places the wines will be on sale. Wines pictured include rosé, sparkling rosé, chardonnay, seyval blanc, pinot noir, solaris and Briery Orchard Cyder.
How did the rest of the planning meeting go?
Simon Murray, who objected to the scheme during the meeting, spoke on behalf of CPRE, The Countryside Charity and a group of local residents.
Murray argued that a smaller scheme would better preserve the setting of the abbey.
He also raised concerns about extra traffic as the site would be “open seven days a week 8am to 8pm”.
The site will have an events space for up to 100 guests and the restaurant would have up to 140 covers.
He said this could lead to “doubling or perhaps trebling” of the traffic on the narrow nearby lanes which are popular with walkers and cyclists.
Murray asked for a traffic-calming scheme to be drawn up to mitigate the risk.
He also called for the speed limit to be reduced in the village to 30 mph, something Cooke also supports.
“Does it really need a serious accident to address this risk?” said Murray.
Councillor Simon Phelps (Independent, Westbury-on-Severn), said the site had an interesting range of 18th-century farm buildings and that the proposals aim was to restore and improve these buildings.
Phelps argued the applicant would be improving the environment.
“This site is of extreme historic importance, being the only abbey within the Forest of Dean district,” he said.
He agreed that there are issues with the road network, but overall said he believes the plans merit approval.
Councillor Richard Burton (Green, Newnham) said the benefits of the scheme were large and the negatives small. He proposed approving the scheme.
Several other councillors echoed these comments in favour of the proposals.
Councillor Peter Kyne (Labour, Coleford) called the plans were a “real asset for the Forest”.
“I will certainly support this application”, he said.
Councillor James Bevan (Conservative, Lydney East) said he would like to congratulate the applicant on going ahead
“It is not just a small thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of money at stake here.
“And I’m sure he will recuperate it. There is bound to be local employment. And I’m all for that, local jobs for local people.”
And Cllr Alison Bruce (Green, Bream) said the proposals were “very sympathetic” to the setting of the listed building.
She said the car park could be an issue as it could be seen from the abbey.
“That’s maybe one of the compromises people have to make,” she said. “It’s a remarkable proposal.”
Chairman Dave Wheeler (Green, Newland and Sling) said it was an innovative and interesting application to save the listed buildings.
“I hope it is a success as an event destination,” he said.
He also praised officer Hannah Ramsey for the great work she did in dealing with the complex and detailed application.
The committee voted unanimously to grant planning permission and listed building consent.
This article is by Carmelo Garcia, BBC Local Democracy Reporter for Gloucestershire, with additional copy by Andrew Merrell. The Raikes Journal is approved to use the BBC local democracy reporting service.