Lovejoy

Lovejoy series and The Lovejoy location: What’s the connection…?

The Lovejoy TV series was loved for its storylines and for the characters who made it so watchable: Ian McShane, Phyllis Logan, Dudley Sutton, Chris Jury and Caroline Langrishe, but also for the countryside of south Suffolk and north Essex where it was filmed.

Fans of the show will be familiar with Lavenham, Long Melford, Castle Hendingham, Halstead Finchingfield and Coggeshall and of course, the Belchamp Hall country estate.

Places where filming for Lovejoy took place include:

One of the filming locations for Lovejoy was The Half Moon pub in Belchamp St Paul, being featured in quite a few episodes. The Fox Inn, Finchingfield was another Lovejoy location which was featured in the 1992 Lovejoy Christmas special (and the village of Finchingfield was featured in two episodes).

Hedingham Castle (just a 10 minute drive away) was used as a Lovejoy location in the 1992 Lovejoy Christmas special, where it was disguised as a castle in Prague. Coggeshall was featured in series four and the clock tower is very recognisable.

Townsford Mill, Halstead is an antiques centre featured in series four and is now called Halstead Antiques Centre. This is often visited by Lovejoy fans across the country. Long Melford featured regularly as a location in Lovejoy and with the interior of the Bull Hotel and many of the antiques shops, which Long Melford is particularly well known for.

Belchamp Walter church as seen in the gallery above (just across the road from Lovejoy’s) was featured in the final episode of Lovejoy called “Last Tango in Lavenham”.

The pretty, 14th century church just across the road from Lovejoy’s and The Lovejoy Studio featured in one episode where Lovejoy was due to get married. Did he ever turn up?

Lovejoy’s Workshop – (Now Lovejoys cottage)

Thrilling news for all you Lovejoy fans! You can now stay in the very place where the BBC filmed the ever popular TV series ‘Lovejoy’, about the rouguish detective/antiques dealer which was aired in the 1980s and 90s.

Lovejoy’s and The Lovejoy Studio are two holiday cottages in the private Belchamp Hall estate in Belchamp Walter, north Essex. The hall is a beautiful Queen Anne period house, built in rich, red brick, has always been lived in by  the same family; direct descendants of John Raymond, who built it in 1720.

Lovejoy’s and The Lovejoy Studio are two very different types of holiday accommodation, with Lovejoy’s being all on one level (up a flight of stairs), with a high, timbered ceiling and spacious accommodation for two people. The original  ‘Lovejoy Antiques’ shop sign hangs from the rafters and there are quirky antiques and Lovejoy memorabilia from when the series was being filmed.

The Lovejoy Studio, is so named because it is a light, airy and spacious cottage (much like an artist’s studio) and full of original artwork, painted by the owner of Belchamp Hall. The Lovejoy Studio has a large double bedroom and a second, smaller double and downstairs the spacious self-catering cottage has a woodburner and is dog-friendly.

Both Lovejoy cottages are beautiful, luxurious and furnished to a very high standard. There is a private tennis court for guests’ use and bikes and BBQ are also provided. The surrounding countryside is ideal for long walks and the quiet lanes perfect for a meandering bike ride.

The actors and film crew spent a lot of time at Belchamp Hall and the Raymond family came to know them quite well. Charlie Raymond has found some interesting memorabilia from the time and some of these are on display in Lovejoy’s.

There are the two signs from the antiques shops that were used, these now hang from the ceiling in the cottage and make a great talking point! See in the image gallery above.

There are also some fascinating ‘location continuity boards’ showing how the rooms in Belchamp Hall, or ‘Felsham Hall’ as it was known in the series, should be laid out whenever they filmed there. As the boards are quite old the text is reasonably faded. See the scanned continuity board in the image gallery.

Good news then, that you can now actually base your holiday in the place where the Lovejoy crew spent so much time. And of course, a box set of the entire Lovejoy series is provided in each of the Lovejoy cottages so you can watch it all over again!

Lovejoy links:

1. Lovejoy TV locations gallery from the BBC

2. Information from UKTV on the series & the cast

3. Belchamp Hall – Wedding Venue in Essex