A MAJOR tourist attraction could be created in Tavistock that would draw art lovers from far and wide.

Work on a multi-million pound gallery based on the famous Guggenheim in New York is underway at Brown's Hotel in West Street.

The gallery, to be called D'art, is due to open in the summer of 2003. It will have ramps ascending to a rooftop cafe and terrace with spectacular views over the Dartmoor landscape.

General manager of Browns, Martin Bell, said it was hoped the gallery would be 'used as part of the pilgrimage down to the Tate St Ives' with the hotel used as a base.

The gallery will be free to the public and exhibit work by local, national and international artists. All mediums will be presented — canvas, sculpture, architecture, photography and film. There will also be a facility for lectures.

Renowned architect David Sheppard has designed the building — taking inspiration from the patchwork quilt character of Dartmoor and Devon landscapes, light shimmering through tree-lined lanes and the abstract paintings of Paul Klee.

'We have already invested £2-million in the hotel. We were not prepared to stand around and wait for someone else to do something like this.

'We have the building, the foresight, and a brilliant architect and we are determined to make it happen,' said Mr Bell.

He said there was a much more 'urbane and sophisticated type of visitor' coming to the West Country now than there was ten years ago.

'People like Rick Stein, the Tate and the Eden Project have all helped encourage a different type of visitor.'

He said the gallery had been promised a Barbara Hepworth sculpture that had not been on show before.

'This gallery is about the future — not about looking to the past the whole time.'

Mr Bell said that while it was nice that people came to Tavistock for its historical attractions, the new gallery would put the town on a different type of map.

'It is not domestic in scale. It will be on a par with some of the national galleries. There has to be something with scope and foresight to pull this off.

'Lots of little projects, because of lack of funds or confidence, are half-hearted. This is done with panache.'

He said a lot of research had taken place before the project began.

'The whole scheme is extremely exciting. We hope to put Tavistock on the map in a different way. This is about now and the future — otherwise Tavistock will become stagnated.

'I think the gallery will succeed — and it ought to succeed.'