Welcome to Wincanton, twinned with Discworld

It is a fantasy world that is pancake flat and peopled by a metropolitan mix of witches, vampires and other strange, atavistic beings in loincloths, all balanced on the teetering backs of four giant elephants.

Welcome to Discworld, the wondrous, sci-fi universe spawned by the novelist, Sir Terry Pratchett, that has entertained legions of literary fans for over two decades and that should, by any stretch of the imagination, remain reassuringly fictional for the rest of us.

Some recent developments in a corner of Somerset, however, suggest otherwise.

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Yesterday, Sir Terry's fantasy land came closer to entering the world of ordinary mortals after Wimpey Homes, the bastion of uniform housing developments, took the step of naming two roads in the town's new "Kingwell Rise" development after street names from Pratchett's Discworld series.

Around 30 prospective residents who buy one of the 212 Wimpey homes due to be completed by July can live on Peach Pie Street or Treacle Mine Road. The idea appears to be paying off for Wimpey already. Two families have pledged to buy homes on those "Discworld" streets before they have even been built. More than 1,000 of the town's residents voted for the two names from a shortlist of 14 Discworld references suggested by Sir Terry, after Wimpey opened up a public online poll.

This is not Wincanton's first foray into Sir Terry's make-believe land. In 2002, it was officially twinned with the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork from the novels, the first town in the world to link up with a fictional place.

Eyebrows were raised but since then Wincanton has seen a rise in tourism and trade which has boosted the confidence of those who may have been previously suspicious.

Sir Terry, who has sold more than 55 million books worldwide, said he was delighted by the idea that his fiction had penetrated reality in this "joyful" way and was delighted by the notion that Wimpey had decided to take a further step into his world.

"It's a lovely idea, to do something for the sheer joy and incongruity of doing it," he said. "I have to say well done to Wimpey for having the guts to do this. It's nice that an organisation should unbend and join in the fun. These are nice names, even though I say it myself. Personally, I'd pay good money to live somewhere called Treacle Mine Road."

Sir Terry added that although the names for his Discworld series – the first of which was written in 1983 – were invented, they were based on the reading he did as a child which included folklore, ancient history and science fiction.

"In some respects, these are not fantasy names. There was another name in the list of 14 which was Tenth Egg Street. If you were to find a street with this name at the back of Winchester, you'd accept it, as long as the road was cobbled. Another was Moon Pond Lane. Who wouldn't want to live there?

"These names are made up by me but they have the feel of some of the strange street names that were part of our old cities, so they are kind of inventions but based on real things," he said.

The fact that Wimpey decided to have dedicated Discworld streets – an idea that the district council accepted without a fuss – may well be related to the lucrative effects of the twinning. Until 2002, Wincanton was a nondescript town that was not on any tourist trail. Twinning with Sir Terry's fiction got the town noticed in a way it had not been before. People from all over the world now visit the town, along with a shop, Discworld Emporium, dedicated to the series, which opened in 2001. There were annual auctions, festival and masquerades. The local butcher began selling "Discworld" sausages over the Christmas period, the local wholefood store brought out a "Discworld" breakfast mix and a local audit found that this trading effort had brought £70,000 in tourism to the town. Yesterday a sea of fans – and some residents – turned out to the street naming ceremony in fancy dress characters from Sir Terry's novels, including trolls and dwarfs.

Councillor Colin Winder, a former Mayor of Wincanton, said: "The link with Discworld works extremely well for our town, helping to boost the local economy. I even know of three families who moved to Wincanton because of this quirky connection. It is wonderful that the roads at Kingwell Rise have been named in this way and it certainly beats the dedications to local dignitaries and village worthies we usually see."

Richard Goad, the regional sales director for Wimpey, said he was inspired by the shop opposite his office, Discworld Emporium.

"I went in and saw a whole new world. We wanted to find a way to honour the twinning of the town. Usually, street names are pretty boring. We'll look at the local land and sometimes local authorities will name roads after councillors and local dignatories. When we suggested this to Somerset Council, they loved it," he said.

Bernard Pearson, the owner of Discworld Emporium who has known Sir Terry for three decades, said some doubters in the town refused to join in the fun but that they were fewer than there used to be.

One resident, David Ward, who was among the throng yesterday dressed in "character" and going by the name Josiah Boggis (he had been so named at the Discworld Convention in 1998 by Sir Terry himself, he said) concurred, adding that the town was intermittently flooded by fans dressed up as vampires trolls and dwarfs, parading on the high street in all their glory.

"The first time they (the residents) saw us walk up the high street," he said, "they looked at us askance. A lot of them now wave."

Wincanton vs Discworld

Wincanton is a small town in Somerset on the A303, the main route to London. Discworld is a flat planet balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle.

Wincanton has a population of 4,943. Discworld's population consists of a number of trolls, dwarfs, witches and vampires.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Wincanton was often the scene of battles between the Britons, Danes and Saxons. In 'Interesting Times', a book in the Discworld series, battle is a key theme as the oldest empire in the land falls into turmoil brought about by warlords struggling for power.