Tributes have been paid to Dame Thora Hird, one of Britain's best-loved actresses, after she died aged 91.

She suffered a stroke a week ago and died at Brinsworth House, a retirement home for actors in London, on Saturday.

Although the Lancashire-born star became lauded for screen roles epitomising the house-proud Northern woman, Sussex was close to her heart.

Her only child Jan, also an actress, lives near Chichester and Dame Thora had a cottage nearby, which she visited as often as possible.

Jan and her husband previously lived in Isfield, near Lewes, and for many years her mother's religious programme Praise Be! was filmed in its grounds.

Jan said: "I feel incredibly blessed to have been the daughter of such an extraordinary ordinary woman.

"It was her very ordinariness that made it possible for her to communicate with so many people.

"She loved Sussex, the countryside and she loved going down to the sea in her later years."

Dame Thora appeared in hundreds of plays, films and on radio but it was her TV appearances which made her a household name, particularly in the Talking Heads series.

Her career entered a golden age as Edie on Last of the Summer Wine, a show she worked on with her Brighton-based friend Dora Bryan.

Ms Bryan said: "I am very, very sad. I am going to miss her terribly."