LOCATIONS

"Tilling-On-Sea" is, to all intents and purposes, the lovely small town of Rye in Sussex. Here it was that E.F.Benson lived for much of his life, and it was Rye's quaint streets and houses he used as his fictional town in the "Mapp & Lucia" books. His own home, Lamb House, was the model for "Mallards" (later "Mallards House"), and many other residences and shops are easily recognisable from the books as actual houses in and around Rye.

A woman with a straw hat and light-colored clothing walking near a white building with plants and an archway.
Empty cobblestone street with parked cars and buildings with greenery on the walls.
A quaint country pathway with stone paving leading to a light pink wall with a white wooden door, shaded by a large green tree, and decorative potted plants along the side.

Thus the delicate pink Swan House in Watchbell Street becomes "Mallards" with the addition of some trellis to hide an obvious garage and two fake handrails outside the front door.

The “real” Swan House, photographed in the 1990’s.

Two people walking down a street past white buildings, one wearing a yellow suit and the other in dark clothing with a hat.

Georgie's home "Mallards Cottage", which in the books is a neighbour of Lamb House/"Mallards", is moved to 29 Watchbell Street, almost directly opposite Swan House.

Close-up of a white front door with house number 29, a mailbox, and a brass doorknob, with a window above the door and a window to the right.

29 Watchbell Street in reality.

Hever Castle.

Hever Castle stood in for Sheffield Castle.

People walking along a sidewalk in front of colorful row houses, one person carrying a basket.
Exterior view of a beige house with large bay window and a white front door with decorative glass and black numbers '11'.

"Diva's" home - "Wasters" - is situated for the television series at 11 Watchbell Street

11 Watchbell Street as it is today.

Exterior of a store called Twistevents with open door and boxes of items outside

Twistevant's shop, set in the High Street in the novels, is relocated to the corner of Mermaid Street/West Street for the television programmes.

Two people walking down a cobblestone street near a brick building with street lamps along the path.

Major Benjy's house in the novels is just below Lamb House / "Mallards" on the same side, but for the television series a house at 12 Church Square was used instead.

A brick house with a blue front door, white-framed windows, and a tiled roof, partially obscured by green tree branches.

12 Church Square.

A person painting or working on a mural on the side of a building with black, white, and yellow horizontal stripes.

Quaint Irene's residence "Taormina" in the television series uses a house next to the town reservoir (the Water Tower) just off Market Street, while in the books she lives just down the street from Lucia's house, "Mallards".

A white two-story house with black window frames and a black front door, with smoke coming out of two brick chimneys. Vines grow along the side of the house.

Quaint Irene's house in real life.

People walking down a cobblestone street lined with shops and buildings on a sunny day.

Panorama of Mermaid Street.

Street scene with a post office, a person walking, and a horse-drawn carriage.
Person dressed as Santa Claus sitting at a table outside a store, with a person in a red hat standing nearby.

The "Tilling" Post Office is situated in a shop in Lion Street for the purposes of filming. The "real" Rye Post Office is located near the railway station.

Empty street with white and red brick buildings, some with flower boxes and a sign for a tasting room.
A house on a hill surrounded by trees and tall grass with a cloudy sky.

Shops in Lion Street today.

"Grebe" is an isolated house on the Rye/Camber road.

A countryside dirt road leading towards a house with a chimney, surrounded by fields and trees, under a cloudy sky.

House on the Rye/Camber Road used as "Grebe", as it is today.

The Landgate in Winchelsea was used in place of the one in Rye.