SIX-figure bids have been made for the ten acres of land that brought together pop culture and cricket in the hamlet of Birtles more than two decades ago.

Birtles Bowl was put on the market by former DJ, actor, sport star manager and multi-millionaire hippy 'Lord' Tim Hudson in November.

Prestbury estate agent John Halman of Gascoigne Halman said last night (Tuesday) that offers of over £100,000 have already been made

He said the land was "a piece of cricket history", and included a rainbow-coloured cricket pavilion together with a cricket field and a lake.

The history of the land is already playing a part in the price being offered. The average price for agricultural land in Cheshire is around £5,000 an acre, so it should be worth only £50,000.

John Halman said existing planning permission for use as a sports of leisure venue may boost that price but it was very unlikely to ever get planning permission for houses to be built upon it.

He said: "We have had interest from local people and from elsewhere in Manchester as well as one enquiry from America. People press me on what price it will make but I have always said I cannot value it.

"You could see it as agricultural land fetching £4-£10,000 an acre for grazing or as a bit of history fetching £500,000. This is a very well-heeled area and there might be another Lord Tim who wants to keep the history of the ground going.

"We will continue to invite offers until the end of January and then we will go back to the serious buyers and ask them for their best bids. Then it will be up to Lord Tim to say yes or no."

'Lord' Tim Hudson - he bought the lordship of Birtles Manor for £70,000 in 1986 - transformed the ground into a mecca for both cricketers and rock bands, bringing "flower power" to the game.

Viv Richards, Geoff Boycott and Ian Botham strutted their stuff at the Birtles Bowl but today the pitch and pavilion are sad shadows of their past and the Council for the Protection Rural England - who stalwart Geoffrey Sparrow is a neighbour - has labelled the overgrown pitch a "grot spot".

Tim Hudson, is seen as a great English eccentric, and at Birtles Bowl, he took on the cream of world cricket with his private team, the Hudson Hollywood Eleven, to the tune of bands like New Order and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Lord Tim, now 64, sold the eighteenth-century Birtles Old Hall, which overlooked the ground, and moved back to America in 1990.

He made a brief attempt to return to Birtles at the end of the decade, with his American heiress wife Maxi and daughter River, living in the pavilion for a time while he tried to restore the vandalised Birtles Bowl to its former glory.

He went back to America after bitter planning rows with neighbours and Macclesfield Borough Council.

Back in November he told the Macclesfield Express: "It was a great place to be in the Eighties, with the matches and the music, and I won't forget the good times we had there."

Lord Tim, as he likes to be known, became famous as a DJ in the USA during the Sixties. He toured the States with The Beatles and claims to have discovered the Moody Blues and introduced the Rolling Stones to America.

He even made it to the silver screen, starring as the voice of Tom in the Disney film The Aristocats and as the eagle in the Jungle Book.

He also managed Ian Botham, but they fell out after he was quoted in a newspaper as saying the cricketer smoked "dope".

The Birtles Bowl cricket ground inspired many disputes with neighbours and closed in the Eighties. It has not seen a game since.

Hudson brought a touch of hippie culture to the game with his panama hats, rainbow blazer and ponytail.

It is not certain whether a future buyer will keep it as a cricket ground, but the land only has planning permission for use as a sports or leisure venue.