I OPENED the bedroom door and Benedict Cumberbatch was inside staring straight at me. Not in person, I should add, before his fan posse of “Cumberbitches” go into a frenzy of delight, but on the cover of a glossy men’s magazine on a table in the room.

I’d come to No Ten Manchester Street in search of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective and found him straight away, in the image of the actor who’s made Holmes famous again through the BBC series Sherlock.

This luxury boutique hotel in Marylebone is only a short stroll – or trip in a Hansom cab – from the Baker Street detective’s base.

Following the Holmes’ trail springs a few surprises. It becomes apparent, standing in line with about 100 other people waiting to enter 221B Baker Street, that all is not what it seems. The business next door is numbered 237, so you don’t need Sherlock’s acute powers of deduction to surmise that number 221B isn’t 221B at all.

It’s as false as the terrace house in North Gower Street, in London’s Bloomsbury, that serves as the exterior of Holmes’ sweet home in the BBC series starring Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Dr Watson.

The sign at the Sherlock Holmes Museum clearly states: “221B, Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective 1881-1904”. The City of Westminster gave permission for 221B to be put above the door when the Sherlock Holmes International Society opened the museum in 1990.

Of course, Holmes never lived there, he’s a fictional character. But the Georgian town house – built in 1815 and Grade II-listed for being of special architectural and historical interest – was registered as a lodging house from 1860 to 1934, when Holmes and Watson were reported to have resided there as tenants.

The building is a neat blend of fact and fiction, now turned into a shrine to the pipe-smoking, violin-playing, drug-taking bachelor whose powers of deduction and detection were second to none.

The less-famous No Ten Manchester Street is the reason behind my visit. To mark the third series of the BBC’s Sherlock and the sleuth’s 160th birthday last January, the hotel, just off Marylebone High Street, is positioning itself as the starting point for a tour of all things Holmesian.

The sleuth isn’t the only celebrity in the area. Charles Dickens lived in Welbeck Street while working as a court reporter. Edward Gibbon wrote much of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in another house in that street. It was also the location for a near fatal traffic accident for Sherlock Holmes in The Final Problem and there was also the case of the falling brick he had to dodge in Vere Street.

Chopin resided in the area briefly and Beatle Paul Mc- Cartney was there from 1964 to 1966, staying on the top floor of the 18th century Grade II-listed house in Wimpole Street that girlfriend Jane Asher’s family occupied. He and John Lennon wrote I Wanna Hold Your Hand on a piano in the basement.

Marylebone has the highest concentration of Georgian houses in London and is home to Regents Park, the busiest royal park in the capital. Madame Tussauds is located in Marylebone Road.

The Wallace Collection nearby is a national museum with displays of art collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, son of the 4th Marquess.

But the Baker Street sleuth is the centre of attention.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum very much follows his deerstalker and pipe image.

There’s little sign yet of the vast gift shop being Cumberbatched.

I only spotted the face of the most recent Holmes on videos of the BBC series and the Sherlock Holmes Cluedo box.

Then it’s out of the gift shop (free) and into 221B Baker Street (£8 admission.

Some of the wax human figures are more frightening than the head of the Hound of the Baskervilles, mounted like a trophy on the wall.

The Professor Moriarty figure looks very unsavoury (and nothing like Andrew Scott, who does such a good job in the series).

There’s a study on the first floor with Holmes’ bedroom at the rear. The sitting room overlooking Baker Street was, according to Watson, “illuminated by two broad windows”. Watson’s bedroom was on the second floor next to landlady Mrs Hudson’s room looking out on an open yard.

Today, the rooms are exhibition spaces filled with literature, paintings, photographs and newspapers along with letters written to and from Holmes.

If, at the end of all this you feel in need of liquid refreshment, head for Charing Cross and the Sherlock Holmes pub where a pint of Watson’s Wallop awaits you.

Travel facts

  • The Sherlock Holmes Museum is open daily from 9.30am to 6pm. For more information, call 0207-935-8866 or visit sherlock-holmes.co.uk
  • No Ten Manchester Street, four stars, a beautiful Edwardian building with 44 bedrooms, is close to Regents Park, within five minutes walking distance of Baker Street station and ten minutes from Oxford Street and Bond Street stations
  • The address is also home to Cigars at No Ten, an exclusive cigar shop and indoor tasting room boasting an all-weather cigar terrace and walkin Hunters & Frankau designed humidor, offering a comprehensive range of hand-rolled Havanas plus many other Cuban marques
  • Dine in the Dieci Restaurant, which serves modern Italian cuisine and offers a selection of menus, including afternoon tea
  • Regular rates start from £274 per room per night for a deluxe room, including breakfast. Call 0207-317-5924 or visit tenmanchesterstreethotel.com.