My country memories

Boyhood adventures in the Warwickshire and Worcestershire countryside were good training for skirmishes on the set of ‘Dad's Army' for actor Ian Lavender

‘Living in a little village just outside Bury St Edmunds is very unlike my childhood on the outskirts of Birmingham. I was city-born and bred, although we were minutes from the most lovely Worcestershire-Warwickshire countryside, with the Lickey Hills and wonderful canals nearby. My mates and I would pack a sandwich and go exploring. We'd head to the Tardebigge tunnel on the canal, then make tunnels through the corn fields.

‘Several years later I joined ‘Dad's Army'. Filming took place on a battle-training field in Norfolk and it had never been touched by pesticides, manures or fertilisers. It was a fascinating place, with woodland and countryside full of wildlife. We felt very privileged to spend time there as it's not somewhere the public can visit. It was a bit like playing in those cornfields again - although once you'd crawled through the undergrowth for the ninth take, it didn't seem quite so much fun!'

Ian Lavender is well known for his roles in ‘Dad's Army' and ‘EastEnders'