Overstrand

The village's name means 'ridge shore', or perhaps 'narrow shore' to contrast with nearby Sidestrand. The London journalist and travel writer Clement Scott came to Overstrand in 1883, christened the area ‘’Poppyland’’, and wrote about the church tower on the cliff edge and its “Garden of Sleep”. While in Overstrand he stayed at the Mill House with miller Alfred Jermy and his daughter Louie, who became “the Maid of the Mill” in his articles about ‘’Poppyland’’. Scott had many London contacts in the theatrical world, and his writings led a number of them and others from London society to come to Overstrand. Some bought land in the village and had houses built there, and for a while the…

Season 1, episode 2 of the BBC TV series Screen Two was titled "Poppyland" (1985). Directed by John Madden, it took place in Overstrand and tells the story of Clement Scott in his travels there.