FIRST there was the award-winning CROW project in Escrick. Now comes the whole Menagerie.

CROW - short for Creating Rural Opportunities at Work - is a £1.4 million refurbishment scheme undertaken by Escrick Park Estate between York and Selby.

Under the CROW scheme, money from European grants for coal mining areas helped to transform five derelict farmsteads.

The project not only created homes for 22 companies and generated 120 staff but also attracted national plaudits. It won the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Awards for excellence two years ago.

Then it scooped two major prizes in the Country Landowners Association awards.

CROW was the brainchild of Charles Forbes Adam, the tenth generation of his family to run what is now an 8,000-acre Vale of York estate.

Now, on land where once roamed zebra, ostriches and llamas in a small, now-vanished zoo owned by the Wenlock family, Mr Forbes Adam's ancestors, has arisen The Menagerie.

A group of buildings used over the years as a granary, a piggery and a machinery store has been turned into an L-shaped complex of nearly 15,000 sq ft of workspace.

And even as the paint dried eight firms were moving into the ten office units, with one agreed subject to contract and just one still vacant.

Each of the offices is named after various woods on the estate. There is Sheepwalk, occupied by Neotouch Ltd software company; Hackings, occupied by Foresight Management Consultants; and The Stables, home of Guided Solutions, pharmaceutical recruitment company,

Five firms have claimed Bramleys Barn. These include -

- British Waterways which has moved from the flood-sensitive Naburn Lock (with a pond outside their new window to make them feel at home)

- VFM Ltd, management consultants

- North Yorkshire Building Control which works for both Ryedale and Selby Councils

- E-400 Ltd, creators of Internet-link software.

Also earmarking Bramleys Barn - subject to contract - is RC System, the Belgian architectural aluminium company which plans to move in on December 22.

And kream-IT Ltd, an IT recruitment organisation, has occupied Walker's Byre, named after Chris Walker, the architect.

Helen Petith, Escrick Park's lettings manager, said: "We began the conversion in March and have formally completed now, yet most of the units have been snapped up.

"It speaks volumes for the huge and growing demand for businesses to move to a place in the country where all the facilities are provided."

Proprietor Mr Forbes Adam said: "The appeal of working in the country far outweighs battling with city traffic and endless parking problems."