WHEN the rural Wye Valley communities of Hewelsfield and Brockweir lost their village shop in 2000 it provoked a crisis of Vicar of Dibley proportions.

A committee was formed under the chairmanship of David Bevan who registered the enterprise as a friendly society for fundraising purposes.

IT consultant Fred Simpson had just returned from a two-year stint in California as vice-president of Hitachi Data Systems. With time on his hands, he was chosen as the best man for the fundraising challenge.

The fruits of his and his fellow committee members' efforts are plain to see, a 400,000 ecological masterpiece which heats and lights itself.

It also sells the food and drink of local producers, offers a drop-in facility in the caf and teaches IT skills to community members in the IT suite upstairs.

It certainly ticked all Prince Charles' boxes when he visited yesterday to declare the project open.

But village folk being cautious by nature, it has only just been accepted.

"There was a lot of uncertainty about the building when we first opened it," said Mr Simpson. "But now everyone has had a chance to see what a wonderful place it is the community has embraced it wholeheartedly."

The Hewelsfield and Brockweir Village Shop, as the new building is known, is managed by Alison Macklin and she is supported by a team of 40 volunteers.

Inside you can buy locally-brewed cider, Severn & Wye smoked fish, poultry from nearby Madgetts' Farm and a range of local cheeses. Naturally, this was one of many elements of the project which drew praise yesterday from the Royal family's champion of organic farming.

He was equally impressed by the fact that the building generates more than 5 megawatts of electricity per year. More than enough to power its heating and lighting. "We sell surplus electricity back to the grid at 10p per unit," said Mr Simpson.

This piece of engineering genius, along with the building's construction, was supplied by John Bruce of Kemeys Commander, near Chainbridge, Usk.

The two men have known each other for 20 years, since Mr Bruce worked at British Aerospace in Bristol with Mr Simpson's father.

Mr Simpson approached him to tackle the village shop project because of a funding gap on a previous design for a concrete and steel structure.

Mr Bruce said: "I took a look at the plans and listened to what the community was trying to achieve and realised they could achieve their goals in a much more radical and ecologically-sustainable way."

He redrew the plans to feature a load-bearing green-oak structure encased in an insulative box of green oak cladding and beneath a solar panelled roof.

He knew how to do this because his company, Branching Out, specialises in green oak structures.

He fells the trees, saws them up and makes his own beams, planks, windows and door frames. He also plants new young trees to make sure the timber supply is sustainable.

Anticipating the tightening legislation on disabled access Mr Bruce specified full wheelchair access to both the building's floors.

The radical redesign of the building went down like a lead balloon at the local planning department. Although Mr Bruce claims this period cost him time, money, sleepless nights and more grey hairs, everything was eventually approved.

The building's heating system comes from beneath the ground. Mr Bruce laid 600 metres of water pipe around the adjacent field at a depth of 1 metre. The 10 degree ground temperature at this depth is then compressed by a heat pump and heat exchanger to 60 degrees and circulated under the floors.