Upstairs, Downstairs and Grandpa in My Pocket

A trip along the coast today brought us to Southwold, its pier, the beach and the famous Adnams brewery. But the town's fame doesn't end there.

The fictional Southwold Estate, seat of the equally fictional Earls of Southwold, is the country estate of the family of Lady Marjorie Bellamy in the ITV British drama Upstairs, Downstairs. The town and its vicinity has been used as the setting for numerous films and television programmes, including Iris about the life of Iris Murdoch starring Judi Dench; Drowning by Numbers by Peter Greenaway; Kavanagh QC starring John Thaw; 'East of Ipswich' by Michael Palin; Little Britain and a 1969 version of David Copperfield.

There's more! The cbeebies show, Grandpa in My Pocket is set in a fictional location called "Sunnysands". The exterior scenes are filmed on location in the towns of Southwold and Aldeburgh. The Masons' house is in Crabbe Street, Aldeburgh. The pier and the lighthouse are in Southwold. The bike and other shop is in Walberswick.

So now you know.

Sunnysands doesn't seem quite right to me though!

I hope you like this HDR shot from the pier on a very overcast day.