WHEN Dawn French took a role last spring in the BBC's latest period drama, she imagined an idyllic summer ahead. Who wouldn't?

The show in question, Lark Rise to Candleford, is a warm and witty adaptation of the magical memoir by Flora Thompson, who spent several years living in Bournemouth.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of sunshine last summer for Dawn and company to enjoy... but more of that later.

Lark Rise is a gentle account of Flora Thompson's time growing up in rural Oxfordshire in the late 19th century.

She moved to Winton in Bournemouth in 1903 after marrying fiance John, who worked in the town's main post office.

Previously Flora lived at Grayshott in Hampshire, where she worked at the local post office.

She and her husband first rented a house at Sedgely Road before moving to a neighbouring property prior to moving again to a house in Edgehill Road, where they stayed for six years, renaming it Grayshott Cottage.

The first two of her children, Winifred and Basil, were born there.

Flora, who was a regular visitor to both Bournemouth and Winton libraries, began submitting articles to magazines and saw her name in print for the first time when living here.

The family moved to a new home in Frederica Street in Winton, which, local historian Elizabeth Edwards says, she again called Grayshott - before upping sticks and moving to Liphook and, later, Dartmouth in Devon.

Lark Rise to Candleford, regarded by many as a masterpiece, was originally published as a trilogy between the years 1939 and 1943, just four years before the author died.

Filming for the BBC costume drama that begins on Sunday (BBC1, 7.40pm), hard on the heels of recent successes Cranford and Sense and Sensibility, took place in and around Bristol and Gloucestershire throughout the summer months.

But unfortunately, thanks to the good old British weather, there wasn't much sun to be had.

"There is actually sunlight all the way through it, which considering we didn't really have a summer is a miracle," 50-year-old Dawn laughs.

"We were quite close to where all that terrible flooding was happening, so that was a bit of a worry.

"The weather really was quite an enemy at the start."

The series chronicles the lives of both the dwellers of hamlet Lark Rise and those of the residents in the nearby market town of Candleford.

The story is told through the eyes of Laura Timmins (Olivia Hallinan), a young girl who is sent by her family from her home in Lark Rise to work in the post office with her cousin, independent and feisty Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha), in Candleford.

She witnesses the differences between the two communities, and the conflict that can arise as a result.

Dawn plays fellow Lark Riser Caroline Arless, a frivolous but lovable mother-of-four.

"She's a very vibrant person," Dawn explains.

"She's quite extreme in that she drinks too much, laughs too much and sings too much - but she also loves her family very much. It's just that she goes over the top sometimes."

"The interesting thing about the books is that they're like a manual because they have such amazing details," says Dawn, who is married to Lennie Henry and has a daughter, Billie.

"They're so descriptive about things like the food, the harvest festivals, what would happen on May Day, where they sat in church and the manners."

  • The first part of Lark Rise to Candleford is on BBC1 on Sunday, starting at 7.40pm.