TV Treasure Hunter to the Rescue

Professional treasure hunt expert, Sam Gething-Lewis, has been called in by Ruth Watson from Channel 4’s Country House Rescue to help revive the fortunes of an ailing property in Watford.

Garston Manor was bought by Sheila O’Neill for £500,000 as a wreck. On the programme to be shown this week, her daughters plan new money-making schemes, including a UFO academy and a treasure hunt at the Georgian property.

“It was great working with Ruth, she is a real professional,” said Sam, who’s from Blakeney. “The girls at Garston were a scream, you’ll have to watch the episode to find out how it all turns out!”
Sam launched Treasure Hunt Design in 2009 and the business has grown from strength to strength, featuring everything from hi-tech cross-country adventures with the Land Rover Experience, to baffling brainy professors in city centre puzzles.

Treasure Hunt Design has recently completed a successful pilot for families with the National Trust in Montacute House in Somerset, with a view to rolling the model out to properties across the country. More locally, during the last decade Sam and his team have completed almost thirty treasure hunts for one location alone. You can take part in one of the treasure hunts over this Easter weekend at the spectacular Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, hunting for the hidden giant eggs.

“He is very creative and his work is slightly ‘off the wall’ which makes it much more interesting and unusual, said Simon Foster, Eastnor Castle’s estate manager.

Treasure Hunt Design’s latest project in development is a creepy hunt featuring elements from all of our nightmares from clowns and ventriloquist dummies to mannequins and skulls.

If you think that your venue would benefit from having income from a treasure hunt then you can contact Sam on 07551 875604.

Do you remember frequently seeing streams of classic cars zigzagging along country lanes?

It isn’t hard to set the clues for one.

1. Get a map of the area.

2. Select ten locations which participants may find of interest so they enjoy the day.

3. Come up with a ten letter answer – anything you like, perhaps relevant to the event.

4. Drive around each of the locations and come up with an answer that includes a letter from the final answer.

5. Whilst at each site, come up with a question to suit that answer – for some ideas take a look at treasure hunt clues.

6. Sketch out a grid of boxes that line up the letters to reveal a final answer. This is helpful to the participants that now know how many letters the answer has.

7. Write out all the clues, map and grid and you are ready to go!

It is time for us to revive this great fun tradition.

If you would like help with your Sunday Afternoon Car Treasure Hunt then get it touch www.treasurehuntdesign.com.

Sam, Sam, the treasure hunt man strikes again… www.treasurehuntdesign.com

We hope that everyone experienced a wonderful and magic afternoon at the launch of our TV treasure hunt for Channel 4’s Country House Rescue.

Toby Wilson from Treasure Hunt Design had laid out a fun and engaging set of clues for the locals through the woods. Secrecy about the outcome of the event is still utmost, so we can’t tell you if it was a success or not and we can’t tell you if the fairies who run the mystery location were happy with the outcome. “I saw a goblin!” said one child “I saw a REAL goblin!!” We cannot confirm or deny the sighting.

Ruth Watson and the team were on hand to gauge the reaction of participants. You’ll have to wait until the programme comes out to see if anyone actually enjoyed it or not.

Food, drink and entertainment were laid on for the launch, with bouncy castles and the occasional waft of burger. The weather was very kind. We’d love to tell you more, but then we’d have to… …you know….

To host your own – take a tour of our website – www.treasurehuntdesign.com

Wednesday 23rd June 2010
By Michael Pickard

Treasure hunters will search for goblins and fairies in a “secret piece of countryside” when a television programme visits Watford.

Garston Manor, in High Elms Lane, will be the setting for Channel 4’s Country House Rescue, when producers visit the 19th Century house next month.

There a goblins and fairies treasure hunt will take place for children as part of the programme, which aims to create innovative ways of making money for local country houses.

The treasure hunt was created by Sam Gething-Lewis, of Herefordshire-based Treasure Hunt Design.

Sam left his job as a corporate games designer to create clues, puzzles and games for country houses, holiday companies and hotels.

Sam said: “They asked me to go into Garston Manor and give them ideas about how to make money. They’ll be able to use the treasure hunt again and again.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for me because it’s quite a quirky product that I sell. I was on site for a day and then I spent a day designing the treasure hunt.”

The venue and subject matter will remain top secret until it is aired.

Read more on our Country House Rescue Treasure Hunt page.

We will be filming on Tuesday 20th April 2010 in a top secret location – which will remain so until the broadcast – so don’t ask!

We have very limited access so will have to act really quickly to plan out the route, set out all the clues and squeeze in the filming too.

The preparation is everything, so we are poring over maps and speculating over ideal clue locations.

More information