Generally it's enjoyable to observe tales about locations we'd by no means need to go (like, say, Stranger Issues' Upside Down). Different occasions, it's good to spend a while within the sorts of idyllic small cities that appear to solely exist in fiction, like Gilmore Ladies' Stars Hole or the non-evil components of Twin Peaks. The latest addition to the cozy-town canon is Serenity, S.C., the candy Southern hamlet featured on Netflix's Candy Magnolias.

The sequence, which is greatest loved beneath a heavy blanket with a steaming cup of tea, follows a trio of besties — Maddie Townsend (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Helen Decatur (Heather Headley), and Dana Sue Sullivan (Brooke Elliott) — as they navigate life's peaks and valleys, be they romantic, financial, or familial.

Serenity, as you’ll have guessed, isn’t an actual city in South Carolina. Sherryl Woods, who penned the books upon which the sequence relies, wrote within the intro to 2007's Stealing Residence that it's based mostly on the state's very actual metropolis of Sumter (extra on that under). It could come as a shock, then, that Candy Magnolias is filmed in Georgia, not South Carolina.

After all, that doesn't make its locales any much less beautiful. Combine your self a margarita and skim on for extra about the place Candy Magnolias is filmed.

Covington, Ga.

The overwhelming majority of Candy Magnolias is filmed in Covington, Ga., a small city that's roughly a 40-minute drive from Atlanta. Location supervisor Brad Smith confirmed to PEOPLE that its tidy, quaint downtown is as fairly in actual life as it’s on the sequence, with solely beauty modifications being made to the realm throughout filming.

For instance, the hovering clock tower featured within the present's opening credit (and within the background of quite a few scenes) is a part of the Newton County Courthouse. Guests received't be capable of miss it, because it's nestled proper within the city sq..

The identical goes for the beautiful Greek revival manor that’s dwelling to the present's Nook Spa. Do observe, although, that it's truly a regulation workplace (the Legislation Places of work of Wm. Thomas Craig, to be particular), so don't pop in anticipating a facial — we don't suppose they educate that in regulation faculty.

One other Candy Magnolias spot you possibly can go to is Sullivan's, the native restaurant owned by Dana Sue, however know that it's truly known as Mystic Grill. (Amusingly, Mystic Grill acquired its identify from one other present that shot in Covington, The Vampire Diaries.) Alas, solely the outside of the restaurant — together with the terrace up high — is featured on the present. Inside scenes have been shot on a soundstage in Atlanta, so seize a desk exterior if you wish to nosh like a real Magnolia.

In response to IMDb, greater than 250 movies and sequence have been shot in Covington — Keep in mind the Titans (2000), Candy Residence Alabama (2002), and Physician Sleep (2019), amongst them — and an area firm, Hollywood of the South Excursions, can information you thru the places featured in Candy Magnolias and past.

Decatur, Ga.

Roughly an hour drive from Covington is Decatur, a 25,000-strong metropolis that’s a part of the Atlanta metropolitan space. It's right here that the residents of Serenity come to search out a little bit serenity, as the realm's Oakhurst Presbyterian Church doubles as Candy Magnolias' Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. You might bear in mind the constructing's spectacular stained glass home windows throughout scenes set throughout companies or Bible faculty.

Decatur is a busy taking pictures space, having been featured in sequence like HBO's Watchmen, Marvel's The Falcon and Winter Soldier, and Hulu's Sweet. The native Agnes Scott Faculty, specifically, has been seen in movies like Scream 2 (1997), Lifetime of the Celebration (2018), and the Oscar-winning The Blind Aspect (2009).

McDonough, Ga.

Situated 40 minutes southeast of Covington is McDonough, a picturesque city of about 30,000. The entire scenes shot at Serenity Excessive College have been filmed at Henry County Center College. In response to a publish from I ♥ McDonough, Georgia, the sequence additionally options pictures of the varsity's baseball area and the city's downtown thoroughfare.

Sumter, S.C.

As we famous above, Woods based mostly Serenity on Sumter, a 43,000-person metropolis tucked proper within the coronary heart of South Carolina. Whereas no scenes from the sequence have been filmed there, it's nonetheless value visiting.

On the very least, you possibly can learn Woods' personal phrases about it — and the way it impressed Serenity — within the intro to Stealing Residence, the primary ebook in her Candy Magnolias sequence. We've included the complete textual content under.

"Welcome to the fictional city of Serenity, South Carolina. Creating a brand new forged of characters and a brand new locale is all the time an thrilling time, however growing Serenity for this new sequence had a particular which means for me. Every year as I journey from my dwelling in Key Biscayne, Florida to my household's summer time cottage in Colonial Seashore, Virginia, I make a cease in Sumter, South Carolina, to go to certainly one of my household's oldest and dearest pals, Dottie Clemons. As she likes to say, she's recognized me since I used to be nothing however a glimmer in my daddy's eye. Now in her mid-nineties, Dottie has extra power, extra zest for all times and extra curiosity on the earth round her than anybody I do know. She additionally values a superb chuckle and may spin a narrative with the perfect of them. She's the individual I need to be after I develop up!"

Ever since Dottie moved away from the Washington, D.C., space and settled in South Carolina, she has shared her newly-adopted group of Sumter and her personal prolonged household with me. So Stealing Residence is for all of them — Dottie, Anna-Mae, Ginger and Johnny, Gloria and Luther, and Dottie's gentleman pal, Larens. Thanks for the nice and cozy welcome, the laughter, the nice meals and the inspiration for this new group.

I hope they — and all of you — will take pleasure in not solely Serenity, however the good, humorous Candy Magnolias, their households, the boys of their lives, and the Nook Spa, the place the ladies of Serenity will come to share a cup of tea, be pampered, and get match. I want all of you friendships like these and a spot that may make it easier to turn out to be the perfect you may be."

The right way to watch Candy Magnolias

You possibly can watch all 4 seasons of Candy Magnolias on Netflix.

Join Leisure Weekly's free day by day e-newsletter to get breaking TV information, unique first seems to be, recaps, opinions, interviews along with your favourite stars, and extra.

Shut