A new £1.5m visitor centre at Walton could be open within two years.

Plans for the Living Naze - an educational centre to interpret the ecology, history and natural environment of the area - have been submitted to Tendring Council.

The idea is to develop old Walton Hall barns owned by farmer David Eagle into an interactive attraction, pulling in thousands of people each year.

It is also expected it will create up to 15 new jobs.

Living Naze is the brainchild of Mr Eagle and his business partner David Rampling.

They have contracted international concept designer Derec Nice and the Sarner creative team to fit out the facility.

Nice and Sarner have already worked on the Victory Galleries in Portsmouth and Vikingland in Oslo while Sarner expertise provided the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre.

Living Naze aims to explore the concepts of the shifting world and the change and uncertainty in the physical geography and the associated ecology of the Naze.

Published Thursday July 22, 2004

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