The local layabout looks as if he will let the village down when the prime minister visits, until he unexpectedly comes into money.

This is a rather nicely crafted comedy that pokes fun at many things including village life and the way local council administration was (and often still is) carried out; pompousness, hypocrisy and short-sightedness commonly abound in those that 'run the village'.

The village itself has high employment because of the local weaving industry. However it is so sleepy that the local bobby has time to stop the traffic in order to let passing dogs cross the road, and a visit to the cinema requires a trip by motorcycle to the nearby town.

The fictional village of Little Hayhoe is represented by the actual village of Thaxted, in North Essex, which is seen in nearly all the exterior scenes (and some of the interior ones) in this film. Thaxted has many medieval buildings including the guildhall and one of the most magnificent churches in Eastern England, often dubbed 'the Cathedral of Essex'. In a strange parallel with the film, the wealth that originally paid for this fine church was also from cloth manufacture; Thaxted was a centre of the wool trade in times past.

Amazingly Thaxted (as seen in the film), 65 years on, remains almost completely unchanged to this day; even 'The Swan Hotel' is still there, and is still a focus of village life.

This is a cracking film in its own right, but of course has a special interest for anyone who lives in the Thaxted area.