THE Baskerville Dining Experience at Postbridge was the venue for a group of journalists and travel writers from the US as part of their UK trip to explore locations associated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's super sleuth, ahead of the launch of Guy Ritchie's Bourne-like film, 'Sherlock Holmes', this November.
'Set-jetting', movie inspired experiences, is a fast growing travel business in the US and a member of the visiting group, Gretchen Kelly, a 'set-jetter' insider for the New York Post, was one of the first reporters to use the term.
While Baker Street will always be Holmes' London base, the story of The Hound of the Baskervilles will forever define Dartmoor in the public eye and a boost in overseas visitor numbers to Devon will be welcome in these crunching times.
The Baskerville Experience turns back the clock to the year 1900 and loosely recreates the story in an authentic Victorian setting, complete with horse and carriage to bring guests to dinner, while the hound can be heard in the forest of Bellever, baying for its next victim.
But the emphasis is firmly on fun and fine dining, and this unique evening is endorsed by the actor Edward Hardwicke who played Dr Watson in the Granada TV series with Jeremy Brett.
Could Ritchie's new look, action packed 'Sherlock Holmes',with the lead role taken by Robert Downey Jnr, and Jude Law as his sidekick Watson do for Dartmoor what Dan Brown's blockbuster The Da Vinci Code did for Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, pushing visitor numbers to 175,000 in 2007 after the release of the book and film from 9,000 in 1997, according to the Rosslyn Chapel Trust.
Proprietor Sylvia Agnew established the Baskerville Experience two years ago to promote the Hound connection with the local area and its economy and is happy to report that all journalists survived — shaken but not stirred!
For more information contact http://www.baskervillecarriages.co.uk">www.baskervillecarriages.co.uk or phone 01822 880386.