Twilight saga lures fans to Forks' soggy setting

It is the wettest place in the United States and one of the wettest places on the planet.

It has a population of 3,000 and is basically a bleak north western logging outpost whose sexiest tourism offering is a “timber museum.”

But tourism here is up 1,000 per cent — crushing anywhere else in the recession-hit U.S. — because this is Forks, where the smash hit Twilight saga is set.

Author Stephanie Meyer actually chose Forks, Washington, because it was cold, dark and wet (nine inches of ran fall every month) making it a perfect hangout for the undead.

But now the pull of the novels and the movies, starring Brit hunk Robert Pattinson, has transformed the fortunes of the town.

Let’s be honest: You have to be a fan.

Otherwise, you will find yourself travelling to a far flung corner of the States to look at an unremarkable school, a few trees and a slightly untidy beach.

If you’re a Twilight devotee, however, you’re looking at the world’s most brooding locale, the school where the Cullen coven study (and where the lovers first meet), the romantically unkempt, driftwood-strewn La Push beach, with its dramatic sea stacks, and the spooky, moss-draped rainforests.

Only then does Forks make sense.

Tourism director Marcia Bingham says: “It has put us on the map and we are thrilled. Now visitors don’t complain if it’s raining, they complain if it’s not raining.”

Twilight fan Annette Bruno-Root moved here to set up two themed shops, a restaurant and tour.