THE bells are ringing for The Dick Whittington Family Leisure Park, a new £2 million tourist attraction between Ross-on-Wye and Gloucester.

If planning consent is given, the 108-acre attraction, named after one of the county's most celebrated historical character, will be created at Blakemore Farm, Little London, near Longhope.

The park's developers, a local business consortium, expect around 30,000 visitors from all over Gloucestershire and the surrounding counties in its first year of operation.

Initial features would include indoor and open-air children's adventure zones, a three-acre trout fishing lake, a half-mile-long narrow gauge steam railway, a family restaurant and a site for holiday caravans and tents.

There would also be a banked flower meadow with cascading water emanating from natural springs, a bluebell wood, nature trails and conservation reserves, an archaeological site, a pets' nursery and practical educational programmes for schools.

Centrepiece will be an exhibition hall recounting the two different stories of Dick Whittington.

One of them will be based on the rags-to-riches legend of the popular pantomime character, his cat and the mythical 'Turn Again, Whittington' chimes of Bow bells.

The other will depict the real-life rise to fame and fortune of Richard Whittington, the local 14th century country boy from Pauntley Court, Redmarley, who became Lord Mayor of London four times.

The consortium's building consultant, Rob Huthwaite, of Bristol, is now in close consultation with Forest of Dean District Council in an effort to determine a planning strategy.

If approval is given, work will begin in the summer, with the park opening to the public just before Easter next year.

The attraction is expected to create a minimum of 30 jobs - six permanent and 24 part-time - and lure visitors from all over Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Gwent, Bristol, Swindon, the Midlands and Oxfordshire.

Backing the development is a local consortium, which includes Jill King, who currently jointly runs the popular Mohair Centre and an Angora goat herd at the Blakemore location.