Rye – it’s the real Tilling

The beautiful town of Rye, East Sussex is immortalised in fiction as Tilling, home to the irresistibly acidulous characters Mapp and Lucia, brought to life by comic writer E.F. Benson.

Rye’s most famous resident of the 1920s felt the town’s garden parties and bridge evenings made the perfect backdrop for arch rivals Miss Mapp and Lucia, to enter an all singing all dancing acerbic tongued war for social supremacy.

Tilling became thrilling: Lucia was described as undergoing a ‘frightful revivification’ following her first visit, and it certainly captured our imaginations.

In the 1980s calls of lights, camera, action where heard when Prunella Scales and Geraldine McEwan descended upon Rye to film the Mapp and Lucia stories for television . Fans still flock to the coastal town to picture Benson’s side-splitting scenes of social politics and gossip.

There’s plenty to see – just ask The E.F. Benson Society. It organises walking tours around Rye, ending at Benson’s former home, Lamb House (now a National Trust property) – visit, and we’re sure you’ll find the town that inspired Tilling just as thrilling as Mapp and Lucia!

every destination has a story to tell

Recommended places to stay: The George in Rye For more gay UK luxury hotels and bed and breakfasts in gay Britain search our properties.

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