TWO-HUNDRED full- and part-time jobs could be created at a new visitor experience and interpretation centre near Junction 26 of the M5 motorway just outside Wellington.

The business men and women behind the planned House of Somerset at Foxmoor Business Park talked about the scheme at a public consultation meeting at the Alan Rogers Centre at Wellington School last week.

One of them, Nigel Muers-Raby, said an investment of about £10-15 million would be needed to develop the site and added: “This is not some pipe dream, this is going to happen – we are looking at the project being up and running within the next two to three years.”

The project’s backers hope to entice visitors off the motorway to visit the showcase for Somerset food and drink, and artisan crafts – which they say would have spin-off benefits for Wellington town centre.

Mr Muers-Raby said a large potential market existed with – according to 2015 tourist authority figures – 21.2 million visitor staying trips and 96.8 million day trips to the westcountry each year.

The House of Somerset would be built on a site of nearly 2.5 acres on a building footprint of 20,000sq ft and with 210 parking spaces.

The building would include a large produce hall with a ‘sense of theatre’, Mr Muers-Raby said, and talks were going on with Tesla about an e-charge station on the site. He also raised the possibility of a trail between the visitor centre, Wellington Monument and Wellington town centre accessed by ‘Boris bikes’.

The project’s backers were not looking to sell fuel or have a restaurant, although visitors may be able to eat on site at a central picnic area.

Potentially Wellington Town Council could take over an area within the building and the National Trust could have a Wellington Monument visitor centre – and a shuttle bus service could take visitors into town. A competition could be run to create a large ‘statement sculpture’ at the entrance to the site.

The House of Somerset’s backers have spent four years working on the project and have looked at other motorway sites at Junction 25 (Taunton) and Junction 27 (Tiverton), but felt the proposed site was rural and in keeping with the project’s objectives, and easier to develop than the alternatives.

Mr Muers-Raby said: “Somerset is the breadbasket of the UK – we have more food and drink and farm producers than any other county, 8,500 at the last count. We are very passionate about the county and that’s what the House of Somerset is all about – how we make more of this wonderful county of ours.

“We are sitting on an absolute honeypot here with people we can potentially bring off the motorway to see what we have to offer in Somerset and in Wellington. We are about bringing people to the area, not just bringing them to the House of Somerset.”

Town councillors and members of the audience raised concerns including about how the project could affect food stores in Wellington and local farm shops, flooding, how drivers could be encouraged to divert off the motorway to the site and lack of prior publicity about the public consultation.

The House of Somerset’s directors are: Nigel Muers-Raby, Douglas Cordeaux, Jo Beauchamp and Alison Whittingham.

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