Plans are in place to build the biggest whisky distillery in England – on a moor made famous by Sherlock Holmes.
Princetown Distillers Ltd want to build the largest facility distillery outside Scotland based on Dartmoor in Devon.
The Somerset company wants to build a £4 million distillery in Princetown, Devon, which will be the second whisky producer in the area but the first of its kind.
If given the go-ahead, it will be be the highest in the UK and the biggest in Britain outside Scotland, according to one of the men behind the plans.
“We chose Princetown because conditions there are pretty near perfect,” said Rowan Maule, a director of the company.
The high rainfall and low average temperature were ideal for storing the spirit, which must be matured for at least three years before it can be legally called whisky, he added.
Dartmoor water would be used in the process and, once established, the malt would come from barley grown on the moor.
The distillery would employ 22 people and would probably attract 20,000-30,000 visitors each year, said Mr Maule.
Princetown Distillers Ltd hope the new build will also include a visitor centre.
It will produce Scotch-style whisky and the bulk of the 400,000 litres of pure alcohol produced each year to create a single malt whisky would be stored at another site within a mile of Princetown.
The design and access statement, submitted to Dartmoor planners, says: “The application seeks permission for the construction of a new distillery for the production of whisky. The proposed building includes a visitor centre and a car park.
“The proposed building is to be whisky distillery for the production of Scotch-style whisky.
“The distillery will become a locally significant employer and at full capacity it will create 22 full time equivalent jobs.”
Dartmoor National Park Authority are yet to make a decision on the application.
Darmoor was the setting for The Hound Of The Baskervilles.