While other counties wallow in bland conformity, our kaleidoscopic towns and villages are brushing off the banal in favour of a vibrant colour.

SUFFOLK: While other counties wallow in bland conformity, our kaleidoscopic towns and villages are brushing off the banal in favour of a vibrant colour.

Picture-postcard Suffolk is famed for its chocolate box cottages, brilliantly bright bungalows and psychedelic semis, making other parts of Britain seem dreary and dull.

From bold primary tones to subtle pastel shades, it's palette of colour stretches from Sudbury to Southwold and beyond.

Multicoloured houses line the coast like a rainbow rising from the ocean wash, and some parishes even encourage homeowners to slap on a coat of colour.

There's even a shade of pink named after the county, which is said to derive from mixing ox blood and can be seen on hundreds of half-timbered homes across Suffolk.

But some areas of the UK are not as keen on colour, as solicitor James Rogers and his wife found out when they decided to spruce up their 400-year-old Herefordshire cottage.

Mr Rogers and Alison Hall have been ordered by the council to repaint the listed building which they have owned since 1984 and spent �150,000 restoring. The couple are appealing the council's request.

Perhaps the pair should up sticks and come to Suffolk where it's not all black and white.

In some cases villagers are even ordered to add a splash of colour to their homes. In 2008, council chiefs told Ipswich Town Football Club director Holly Bellingham to redecorate her �1million Lavenham home form a safe white to a shade of traditional Suffolk pink in order to match a house two doors away.

Elsewhere, in Southwold and along Aldeburgh seafront, brightly coloured rows of homes and beach huts remain a big draw for visiting tourists.

Do you prefer Suffolk's vibrant villages or the colourless homes of Herefordshire? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

Other parts of the UK famous for colour:

TOBERMORY, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, is the setting for popular BBC children's television series Balamory.

It was selected for its beautiful location and multi-coloured houses.

The streets of TIRANA, Albania, were transformed by the city's mayor from dull and grey to artistic and colourful. Mayor Edi Rama led a campaign to paint the outside of the buildings in bright colours.

STOCKHOLM's old waterfront area is famous for its odd-coloured building and unique architecture. Vibrant bars, restaurants and hotels lining the streets have become iconic landmarks.

PORTMEIRION, the location for bizarre 70s TV show The Prisoner, is a village full of colour and folly on the coast of Snowdonia in Wales.

It was designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion's designer in tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean.