BRITAIN’S first “flying village”, where landing rights are as important as a driveway, is taking shape in the Cotswolds and is believed to have attracted the attention of John Travolta, the Hollywood star and aviation fanatic.

The development next to a former RAF airbase will give landing rights to homeowners and is pitched at buyers who are almost as used to travelling by plane as they are by car.

The most prominent would-be buyer being talked about among locals is Travolta, star of blockbusters such as Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, who flies his own Boeing 707.

The Lower Mill estate near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, will allow the rich to park their jets at the nearby former airbase of RAF Kemble, one of the few privately owned runways in Britain long enough for a Boeing 707 to land, before repairing to their luxury lakeside villas. The 550-acre estate already contains 78 inhabited houses, worth up to £2m, built on former gravel works.

Planning permission has been given for a further 498 dwellings on the site, which is sealed off by an electric fence and incorporates seven lakes and a 400-acre nature reserve.

There is an 18-month waiting list for a bespoke house on the development, which is only a few miles away from the Prince of Wales’s home at Highgrove.

Included in the package for residents is a “parking valet” service, which takes the homeowner’s plane to a hangar for cleaning, refuelling and maintenance checks, while the pilot is invited into a hospitality lounge for refreshments.

The airfield is one of the main attractions for the current residents — often bankers and businessmen who fly in from abroad for the weekend.

Travolta, 50, and his wife Kelly Preston, 42, already own a £3.5m home in one of America’s 450 “flying villages”, where he frequently uses his 707 jet and twin-engined Gulfstream II. This summer he flew 24 family and friends to Ireland for a week’s golfing holiday.

The actor, who named his son Jett, has admitted he wanted to call his daughter Qantas — after the Australian airline — before his wife vetoed it.

Last week Jeremy Paxton, the developer of the estate, would not discuss the names of any clients but admitted the “fly-in community” idea was inspired by Travolta’s current home, and that Hollywood stars had shown an interest in Lower Mill.

Travolta’s spokesman was unavailable for comment but a source close to the development said: “He is very interested in having a base here — he is a flying nut and the development would suit him perfectly. If he does buy a house, he would be able to fly in and leave at will and without the glare of publicity.”

The Cotswolds could become an attractive destination for the super-rich of Los Angeles after being put on the map by Liz Hurley and Kate Winslet, who live nearby. Madonna is another “local”, sharing a Wiltshire manor house with her husband Guy Ritchie.

Steve Rowley, 40, a management consultant and owner of a house at Lower Mill, said last week he was learning to fly so he could visit his two children who live with his former wife in Newcastle. “It is a like a village here but if you want to keep yourself to yourself you can — which is why I suppose it may well become attractive to Hollywood types,” he said.

“It’s friendly but you won’t get people knocking on strangers’ doors.”

Talks are under way to erect a “showpiece” building designed by the architect Sir Terry Farrell, designer of the MI6 headquarters in London.

The fly-in community has not pleased all the locals, however. Deryck Nash, a Gloucestershire county councillor, said: “I wouldn’t mind seeing someone like John Travolta around the place and I don’t have an issue with him flying around the world.

“My main concern is the number of second homes in this part of the world. My objection is to people who fly in and don’t mix with the locals.”

One potential drawback for the jet set is that they will have to park their planes and vacate their homes for a month in the winter to give animals in the nature reserve a few weeks of peace to prepare for the breeding season.

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