A View to a Chill: Duran Duran star John Taylor is back in Britain after 30 years in California - and wants to build a pilates studio at his historic manor house home

It's been many years since former wild boy rock star John Taylor turned his back on the excesses of a rock and roll lifestyle.

The Duran Duran bass player found the perfect safe haven to escape his addictions after buying a Spanish-style villa in the Hollywood Hills three decades ago.

Now, after making a permanent move back to the UK, it would appear the veteran musician is not ready to abandon the must-have 'wellness' essentials that go with modern-day life for the Tinseltown glitterati.

As he settles into a quieter life in the English countryside, the svelte one-time New Romantic has drawn up plans to build a state-of-the-art 'home gymnasium suite' at his spectacular 15th century manor house in Wiltshire.

Planning documents show Taylor, 66, believes he has found the perfect spot on his 260 acre estate for the new health complex which includes a large pilates studio and a self-contained standalone sauna.

The blueprints show the star and his American designer wife Gela Nash-Taylor, 72, want to revamp dilapidated outbuildings which are tucked away from the 10-bedroom Tudor manor and sit alongside a butler's cottage and stables.

While the Grade I-listed property is described as a medieval home of 'national historic significance', Taylor's agents insist the modern features will not harm the heritage of the property.

The plans show the star wants to convert a workshop into the pilates studio complete with washroom. 

Rock star John Taylor thas drawn up plans to build a state-of-the-art 'home gymnasium suite' at his spectacular 15th century manor house in Wiltshire

Blueprints submitted to Wiltshire Council show how the star wants to revamp dilapidated outbuildings which are tucked away from the 10-bedroom Tudor manor 

Taylor, 66, and his American designer wife Gela Nash-Taylor, 72, pictured in London last year, believe they have found the perfect spot for the new health complex

The works include replacing a 'poor quality' artificial roof with natural stone slates, removing the existing roof light and inserting a glazed dormer facing away from the manor house.

The floor, described as 'a modern concrete slab', will be lowered to increase headroom, while the door will be relocated and windows will be reconfigured.

Other alterations include 'the introduction of internal finishes of high quality'.

Architects say the workshop dates from the 1970s and has little historic significance.

The sauna is to be built in a pavilion next door which dates from the 19th century.

Constructed of rubble stone walls with a natural stone slate roof, it had been used for storage but is currently empty.

Landscaping will include provision of stepped accesses to the workshop and pavilion to suit lowered internal floor levels.

In a design statement, Taylor's agents said: 'These proposals seek to make alterations to repurpose a relatively modest modern building of low heritage significance and a pavilion building of heritage significance which is currently unused and in need of urgent repair and re-purposing.'

No objections have been raised by neighbours, while Historic England chose not to offer advice on the application, while stressing that this should not be interpreted as a view on its merits.

There is one off-key note, however, after bats were found using buildings on the estate, prompting concerns over whether the proposed works would disturb the protected mammals.

Ecological surveys recorded three species of bat, with four common pipistrelles seen emerging from the stable block during a survey in June.

The accompanying report warns that work affecting areas used by the animals would require a low-impact licence from Natural England.

While Wiltshire Council has yet to make a decision on the application, the authority's ecologist has lodged an objection pending further information.

They have asked for clarification about precisely where the bats are roosting and whether the proposed development would affect them.

Taylor was a founding member of Duran Duran when they formed in Birmingham in 1978 before going on to achieve massive global success.

Their chart-topping hits, including The Reflex, Wild Boys, Rio and A View to a Kill, helped turn the band into one of the defining acts of the 1980s and they went on to sell more than 100 million records.

Taylor left the group in 1997 to pursue a solo recording and film career, before returning in 2001 when the band's original line-up reunited.

In his 2012 memoir 'In the Pleasure Groove', he revealed how his hedonistic lifestyle on the road led to alcohol and cocaine addictions and almost destroyed his life.

Born Nigel John Taylor, the star told how before discovering music as a teenager he had been a somewhat 'nerdy' child who wore glasses and enjoyed wargaming with hand-painted model soldiers.

Ecological surveys recorded three species of bat, with four common pipistrelles seen emerging from the stable block during a survey in June

The council has raised concerns over whether the proposed works would disturb bats after they were found using buildings on the estate

Taylor met Juicy Couture co-founder Gela in 1996, and the couple married in Las Vegas in March 1999

Revealing how he succumbed to the temptations of being a member of one of the world's biggest bands he wrote: 'One thing I discovered on tour in 1981 was that girls - in all languages - liked taking drugs with me.

'Even though I had a girlfriend at home, my horror of lonely hotel rooms meant I would go to any lengths to avoid sleeping in them alone. Cocaine, I was beginning to realise, was an effective insurance policy against that eventuality.

'I had been a nerd named Nigel at school. I wasn't a jock or an intellectual, and as a teenager I'd never had a regular girlfriend. Now I only had to wink in a girl's direction and I had company until the morning.'

He later said of being a rock star: 'This job never kills anybody. It's the stuff you do in between.'

As a multimillionaire musician, Taylor acquired mansions all over the world but told how his out-of-control lifestyle left him 'staring into the abyss'.

In 1991, he married 19-year-old actress Amanda de Cadenet who gave birth to a daughter soon after.

In 1994, while trying to keep his marriage together, he started attending therapy sessions in LA.

Taylor, who separated from de Cadenet in early 1995, finally got sober after taking time out from his career to go into rehab.

He met Juicy Couture co-founder Gela in 1996, and the couple married in Las Vegas in March 1999.

Shortly before tying the knot, the couple splashed out $2 million (£1.5 million) on their 1930's villa which featured four bedrooms and seven bathrooms as well as a library, home gym, outdoor kitchen, pool and spa and a fire pit lounge for entertaining under the stars.

The villa was the couple's main residence until they decided to move back to the UK last year and sold the property for a cool $7.8 million (£5.6 million).

Last year Taylor said of his move to the US: 'I loved Birmingham growing up. It was the best city, but I didn't have anything to compare it to. But LA was a f***ing great place to get sober in, I can tell you that.'

Speaking of how he had not been 'psychologically prepared' for his Duran Duran journey, he added: 'I didn't know that I was going to be an alcoholic. I just didn't see that coming. But I was definitely lucky because of fate.

'It wasn't my time. I got sober 20 years ago. It put me on a different path, man. I don't know. If you're not going to drink and be happy on this planet, you've got to work quite hard at it, certainly for me.'

Taylor and his wife bought the manor house, which along with its Tudor architectural heritage is said to also include a number of outstanding Elizabethan and Jacobean features, in 2004 after it had been put on the market for just short of £7 million.

They quickly set about carrying maintenance works on the property which they used as their UK base.

The manor house had been the ancestral home of the Long family - one of the most powerful and influential gentry and landowning dynasties in England - over many centuries.

According to folklore, it was the first place in the country where tobacco was smoked when Sir Walter Raleigh introduced his friend and host Sir Walter Long to his discovery.

Legend has it that when the adventurer demonstrated the practice, bemused servants doused him with water believing him to be on fire.

Taylor, a founding member of Duran Duran, performing with Simon Le Bon in Glasgow earlier this month

The property, which was continuously owned by members of the Long family until 1966, has six main reception rooms - including a great hall, billiards room and library - as well as seven master bedrooms, three smaller bedrooms and a self contained flat.

Outside there is a tennis court and large circular ornamental pond while the sprawling estate also has five cottages, an octagonal stone summer house, a cricket ground and a kitchen garden.

After the couple bought the property, which was said to have come complete with 'wandering peacocks', they are said to have enlisted opera director and designer Patrick Kinmonth to give the interior a sophisticated 'theatrical look'.

At the time of the move, Gela, who has two children from her first marriage, told Vogue magazine: 'The thing that appealed most was that it's so close to Bath.

'I am a shopping, socialising kind of girl, so I need to be near civilisation and near somewhere that sells Vogue.'

More recently Gela has told how there were other aspects of her life where she was trying to accustom herself to her new surroundings.

Describing how she was struggling to adapt to country life she told the Daily Mail in December: 'I need subtitles when I'm talking to people.'

Gela also told how West Country food didn't make her feel Hungry Like The Wolf - saying shepherd's pie, pasties and 'sausage for dinner' didn't tickle her tastebuds.

She added: 'I don't miss California yet, but I do miss Mexican food - really good tortilla chips and salsa.'

Gela went on to describe how she had been toying with the idea of developing a new accent.

She said: 'I'm obsessed with Manchester. The girls in Manchester are like Juicy [Couture] girls. They wear really short skirts and too much make-up, but in a really good way. They're just sassy.

'There's something about it up there - it's freezing cold and they dress like that any time. They don't seem to know they need a jacket.

'So I said to John, maybe I should have a Manchester accent? And he was like, "no".