IN years gone by, it was an annual event which enthralled readers of The Northern Echo as well as testing their detective abilities.

Echo Quest was the great treasure hunt which had thousands of people captivated and scouring the region for clues.

And after more than a decade, we've brought it back by popular demand for the year 2000 with our biggest, best and most enjoyable treasure hunt yet.

From next Wednesday, you can join Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Dr Watson in following the intriguing Case Of The Burgled Buckles.

It will lead you round the region's railway network, but you can play from the comfort of your home by buying The Northern Echo during the summer.

There are some fantastic prizes to be won during the six weeks of Echo Quest 2000.

We've teamed up with Britain's biggest family jeweller F Hinds, which is moving in to the Queen Street shopping centre in Darlington, to provide a star prize of a £5,000 treasure chest. Centre-piece of the main prize is a £3,000 solitaire diamond ring that is every woman's dream.

There will be another special prize for armchair contestants only, which will be announced very soon.

Daily clues will appear in The Northern Echo and, for the first time, you can follow the trail on the Internet via thisisthenortheast.co.uk

There will also be prizes every week of a two-night cruise to Amsterdam courtesy of DFDS, plus bonus cash prizes.

The treasure hunt comes to a sparkling climax at Whitworth Hall Hotel, the ancestral home of Bobbie Shafto, near Spennymoor, on August 20.

Have you got what it takes to track down the treasure? Are you a bit of a Sherlock Holmes?

Order your copy of The Northern Echo next Wednesday for the big launch and ask your newsagent for your free map and guide on how to play.

Don't let the evil Professor Moriarty get the better of you - be a big winner in Echo Quest 2000.