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It is easy to see why Prince Charles fell in love with this part of the world. The setting is extraordinarily picturesque and calming: behind his internet-free guesthouse retreat there is a path leading up to a meadow filled with hundreds of varieties of wild flower; across the valley there are lusciously green hills punctuated with clusters of trees and haystacks.

It is pleasing on the eye - and on the ear. Zalanpatak is accessible only along a bumpy road. There is very little traffic and it is generally still, the sole sounds being those of buzzing insects, a nearby stream and the occasional rattle of horse and cart (to which, on winter nights, is added the howling of wolves).

Prince Charles, who claims distant kinship with Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes, first came to Transylvania in 1998

Most of the 150 villagers work on the land using ancient-looking hoes and cutting the grass with scythes. At the end of the day they have time to sit outside and to gossip - and to wave at newcomers heading to the larger house at the end of the lane (the former residence of the village judge).

I have been transported both geographically and temporally - to another place and time. Never mind the digital revolution, in Zalanpatak it feels as though the industrial revolution has yet to happen.

Prince Charles, who claims distant kinship with Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes, the 15th-century Wallachian ruler on whom the Irish novelist Bram Stoker based his Dracula, first came to Transylvania in 1998. In his own words, he was "totally overwhelmed by its unique beauty and its extraordinarily rich heritage".

Bounded in the south and east by the Carpathian Mountains, it is fertile territory, full of virgin forests, pristine meadows and abundant flora, fauna and wildlife (it is one of the few spots in Europe where it is possible to see bears in the wild).

It also has a unique cultural legacy, seen most clearly in the Gothic-style medieval towns and fortified churches built by the "Saxon" German settlers who 800 years ago were invited to come here to offer protection from incursions by Turks, Tatars and Mongols.

Prince Charles's guesthouse in Zalanpatak

Despite huge changes - in the past century sovereignty has transferred from Habsburg emperors to Romanian kings to communist dictators to elected politicians - Transylvania has somehow retained a link to a way of life not seen in Britain since the advent of intensive farming.

For the Prince of Wales, the region represented a dream come true: a living example of the possibility of a more harmonious relationship between man and nature; a community that, rather than destroying its traditions in the race to modernity, seemed to have preserved and adapted them.

He decided to add his voice to those calling for the protection of what is so special here and to lend it material substance by getting involved in a project that embraced the principles of sustainable tourism, and provided much-needed local employment.

It is easy to criticise. Who is he, a man born into the lap of luxury, to idealise a simplicity (and poverty) that he can leave behind at will? But coming and seeing it for yourself, it is hard not to feel that perhaps he has a point.

Over a glass of tuica plum brandy, I reflect upon all this with Count Tibor Kalnoky, Prince Charles's partner in this great Transylvanian venture. A real live count. In Transylvania. Don't tell me, there will be bats next...

"I feel slightly strange at the prospect of spending the night in the bed that is usually reserved for the heir to the throne"

Kalnoky, who speaks English with a beautifully clipped accent, is himself of extremely good stock. His family belonged to the Hungarian nobility that held sway here when the Habsburgs were in charge but who were dispossessed following the communist takeover in 1949, and fled to Germany.

Although he was born and raised in the West, Tibor never forgot the land of his ancestors and when, following the fall of communism, the opportunity arose to return and reclaim their properties, he seized it, deciding to create what he terms an "authentic heritage" guesthouse, a beautifully restored collection of buildings in the village of Miclosoara , 20 miles east of Zalanpatak.

Prince Charles, one of the earliest visitors, was impressed. He struck up an easy friendship with the count and joined him in a venture that now comprises three holiday properties - Kalnoky's holiday home in Miclosoara and the Prince's houses in Zalanpatak and in the village of Viscri. Anyone with a week or more to play with should visit all three as they offer very different experiences.

A stay in Viscri transports you into the culture of the so-called "Saxons", the Germans who actually originated from the Moselle and Luxembourg regions and who came by invitation to defend the region from invaders from the east.

Many of the Saxons have left - in the early Nineties they were offered citizenship of Germany and most took it - but their legacy lives on in the form of their magnificent medieval settlements, now inhabited largely by Roma gipsies, the other key constituent of the region's mixed, and not always harmonious, ethnic composition. It lives on too in the fortified churches, complete with sleeping quarters, school rooms and vast areas for storing food, inside which they took refuge when under siege.

Prince Charles is a huge admirer of these churches, an outstanding example of which can be found in Viscri. His property here is much simpler than the one at Zalanpatak. It has three bedrooms, a downstairs living/cooking area and a large garden. There is solid Teutonic craftsmanship, an original wood-burning stove and a number of inscriptions in Gothic script - including one saluting the German dead of the First World War.

The wonderfully atmospheric town of Brasov

Claudia Balica, the owner of the local shop opposite his house, says the Prince is not a man with airs and graces. "You'd never know who he was to look at him but he's the only person who really appreciates Transylvania," she says. "He sees the value of the way of life here. Charles should be king of Romania!"

From Viscri, the drive to Miclosoara in the late afternoon sun involves passing through Transylvanian landscapes almost transcendental in their beauty and streets filled with cows walking unaccompanied towards the homes of their owners. It is like something out of India.

The main rooms of Count Kalnoky's guesthouse here are arranged around a quiet courtyard containing a well. Room 4 (the one favoured by Prince Charles) is filled with furnishings and artefacts that draw on the region's Hungarian (particularly its Szekler) heritage. As in Zalanpatak, there is a cross above the bed and, just inside the door, two bulbs of garlic - no doubt there to ward off evil spirits and vampires.

Miclosoara is a good base for day trips to the wonderfully atmospheric settlements of Sighisoara and Brasov - and to the Bran Castle of Dracula fame (see panel below). It is a place from which to visit (and swim in) the Saint Anna Lake (the only one in Romania contained in a crater), to head out on nature trails, to take rides by horse and cart through the Carpathian foothills out to shepherds tending their flocks.

Apparently, despite the bumps, Prince Charles likes travelling by horse and cart. He has a soft spot, too, for Neni Etelka, the cheery 76-year-old grandmother who is the grand matriarch of the watermill at Kisbacon in which cornflour, polenta and wheat have been ground in the traditional way for almost 300 years.

The Prince of Wales and Count Kalnoky with horse and cart

A signed photograph on the wall confirms that the Prince has been here ("Do you make wholemeal?" he inquired). So, too, has one of his sons. Neni has an extraordinary photograph of herself on the back of a huge motorbike with her arms firmly clasped around Prince Harry, who came here at Easter during a road tour with friends. "Such a nice boy," says Neni. "He gave us lovely hugs and kisses." Her teenage granddaughter blushes at the recollection.

Back at Zalanpatak, the count tells me that Prince Charles himself was last in Transylvania in June, just days after the celebrations marking his mother's 60 years on the throne. He was on excellent form, buoyed by an opinion poll showing a majority of Britons in favour of him becoming the next king. On one particularly enchanted evening, some 120 children sang and danced for him in the grounds of his hideaway haven.

By now my fellow guests have returned and we are escorted to the table for our alfresco dinner. There is a youngish couple from Riga (clearly in the early stages of romance), their English friend Kevin, an expatriate who lives in Bucharest, Valuka and Dan, a Romanian couple, and Chris and Neville from London who have driven all the way here in a small yellow Fiat.

Over a meal of pork stew and palacsinta pancakes, the conversation flows freely, as does the excellent Romanian wine. The count says that there are many British guests, some drawn by the Prince Charles connection, others simply seeking the get-away-from-it-all, step-back-in-time serenity of the place. He adds that there are also visitors who turn up expecting something much more palatial - and then retreat disappointed.

Valuka and Dan say that, tough though it is in Romania, they decided to return to give it another go after spending many years in the United States, and are glad they did.

Chris and Neville, who have spent the day wandering in the "Prince's Meadow", are positively glowing. "We feel we have died and woken up in heaven," says Chris. "This is almost perfect."

Our reflections are disturbed by the flutter of a bat's wings. Well, we are in Transylvania.

We all laugh.

This is indeed a very special holiday experience. One could grow rather fond of it.

Essentials

Getting there
Wizz Air ( wizzair.com, 0906 959 0002) flies three times a week from Luton to Tirgu Mures. Fares from £12 one-way. Airlines flying directly from the UK to Bucharest include British Airways ( ba.com), Tarom ( tarom.ro/en), Wizz Air (as above) and Blue Air ( blueairweb.com).

Staying there
Accommodation at the guesthouses at Viscri, Miclosoara and Zalanpatak can be arranged directly through transylvaniancastle.com: from €49 (£40) per person for one night's b&b to €1,095 (£885) per person for 10 nights divided between the three properties, with meals and guided tours included.

If travelling via Bucharest, the beautifully-restored Grand Hotel Continental ( grandhotelcontinental.ro) lives up to its name and has double rooms, with breakfast, from €111 (£90).

Package
Original Travel (020 7978 7333; originaltravel.co.uk) offers trips to Transylvania with stays at the Prince Charles/Count Kalnoky guesthouses from £1,150 for a week, including return flights with British Airways to Bucharest, accommodation, most meals, all private transfers, tours and guides.

What to read
Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor; Along the Enchanted Way by William Blacker; Harmony by HRH Prince of Wales, Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly; Dracula by Bram Stoker, the Bradt guide to Transylvania by Lucy Mallows (updated version due out in December 2012)

Further information
Romanian National Tourist Office (020 7224 3692; romaniatourism.com)

Bran Castle, Queen Marie and the 'Son of the Devil'

It does not take long in Transylvania to come across signs of Count Dracula, the creepy creation of Bram Stoker famed for feasting on the blood of innocent maidens - and loosely modelled on Vlad Tepes, right, a particularly cruel 15th-century ruler from Wallachia and a man to whom Prince Charles claims distant kinship ("You could say I have a stake in the country," he once said of his love for Romania).

There are people dressed in black robes hanging about outside restaurants serving "medieval Dracula pies" (lots of ketchup) and Dracula-themed hotels, such as the Acasa la Dracula in the hills of Poiana just outside Brasov, plus shops full of kitschy memorabilia (fangs for the memory).

Nowhere is this phenomenon more pronounced than around Bran Castle, top, the Gothic-looking edifice that looms large over the town of Bran.

But anyone coming here hoping for a genuine encounter with the sinister forces so successfully unleashed through Stoker's novel is likely to be disappointed.

"I'm terribly sorry but I am not going to bite," said Adina-Elena, my guide to the castle. "You are not going to find any vampires, nor will you discover a coffin containing the body of a man with bloodstained teeth."

What I did discover was that this castle was once an important fortress on the border between Transylvania and the province of Wallachia.

The real Vlad Tepes almost certainly did spend time here - but only briefly as a prisoner. In its latter days, the castle was the summer residence of Queen Marie, the wife of the Romanian King Ferdinand I, and a woman of mixed Russian and English ancestry (she was one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters and a much closer relative of Prince Charles).

She did up the castle in a very conventional style and the furnishings you see within it (albeit re‑creations) have a comforting almost English-country-home feel.

That said, one room in the castle is dedicated to the story of Dracula (the name means Son of the Devil). When I visited earlier this year, moreover, there was an exhibition of medieval torture instruments, including the wooden stakes so favoured by Vlad "The Impaler".

With its turrets and towers, the castle can look slightly spooky especially at night. And on balmy August evenings, it is said, you can hear the sound of strange footsteps...

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Following in the footsteps of the Prince of Wales, Adrian Bridge heads deep into 'Dracula Country'. There he sleeps in the room normally reserved for the heir to the throne and meets the count who is his partner in a unique tourism venture.

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Inside Prince Charles's Romanian guesthouse

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Count Kalnocky, Prince Charles’s partner in a Transylvanian tourism venture, leads a tour inside the heir's Transylvanian guesthouse.