Trivia: About the writer Peter Spence and more

I had watched some episodes over the years but I just finished watching all 22 episodes in the last 3 days. A brilliant TV series.
The main actors are great. But a lot of the success must also be attributed to the writer. He was a radio gag writer in the 70s and he actually lived in the area where the series was shot. More so, he was actually married in the quaint little parish church shown throughout the series. He lived in the area (Somerset) for a while after he got married. He had first class knowledge of the possible life scenarios in the english country so he used those plus some research for the episodes.

The shooting of the series took place in a estate called Cricket St Thomas, a wildlife park so the had to stop shooting several times due to animals appearing (elephants, camels, etc.) during the scenes' filming.

The Manor, actually called Cricket House, is now used for holiday accommodation.
The Manor House (and Wildlife park) was then owned by the father-in-law of the writer Peter Spence. Despite the closeness depicted on screen, the Manor and Lodge are in fact about one mile (1.6 km) apart.

The parish church is dedicated to St Thomas. The white marble monument shown in some episodes with with reference to Marton (Audrey's deceased husband)is actually a monument to Alexander Nelson Hood families involved in the rebuilding of the church in the 19th century.
Hope you enjoy this trivia. :-)

Paul