Evensford is based on the town of Rushden in Northamptonshire. It grew up as a boot and shoe town in the late nineteenth century. Sadly the boot and shoe industry has mostly gone and many of the factories demolished or developed into flats. Rushden is in the midlands of England not the North and has a distinct accent that none of the actors bothered to copy. Bates captured the rural/urban nature of Evensford perfectly and this series does well with this too. The Aspens are not upper class; they have money and live in a large house in extensive grounds but these things do not raise them into the highest stratum of English society. A reader of the novel visiting Rushden today would still be able to find many of the places Bates wrote about such as, Caldecott, Knuston, Souldrop and Rushden Hall. The Prince Albert hotel still stands. It was the Queen Victoria hotel in Bates's time and is now converted to flats. The railway no longer runs but the station is there and sells a good pint of ale.
Review of Love for Lydia
