Essex rebranded Essos in honour of Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones has probably taken over your life and your Twitter feed for the past week or so, and now it may have even taken over your town. Four areas of the UK have now been transformed into parts of Westeros to mark the show's finale, and the release of the digital download of season eight.

Essex has become Essos, London's Covent Garden is now Highgarden, Blackpool has the new name of Castle Black-pool and Doune Castle in Scotland is now Winterfell. New signs signifying the new names have been erected at key locations in these areas. Essex – sorry, Essos – has a sign outside Colchester Castle, for example. The signs will stay up throughout the summer and people are encouraged to take selfies with them, using #GoTTakeover, naturally. Could more famous buildings be next?

Let's take a look at these new areas. Below is the new Highgarden...

Castle Black-pool...

The new Winterfell (which was the location for Winterfell in the GOT pilot episode)...

And Essos...

"Like Essex, fictional Essos is located in the east and has a dry climate," says the Visit Essex website. If that seems like too tenuous a link, then you'll be pleased to know that some of the show's stars grew up in Essex, and there are also some wolves at Colchester Zoo, and there's erm... glamping.

Should a TV series be able to take over a place? It's an interesting question, and while we don't expect the tourist boards or selfie-seeking visitors to ponder it for too long, it is something to consider.

Read more: