Downton

“What is a weekend?” Dowager Countess – Downton Abbey

I can’t quite believe it… Today we went to Highclere Castle! Home to the Grantham family in Downton Abbey. If you haven’t binged the entirety of all six seasons + Christmas specials + movies, then I won’t give a give anything away. Me Jenny and I have binged the lot not once, but twice in the last 14 years, and after today, I think I could easily do it again – When I asked Me Jen if she could also watch it again, she said, “Um, probably not” ….. ok

IRL – Highclere Castle is home to Fiona and George, the Countess and 8th Earl of Carnarvon.

The castle was built in AD-MDCCCXLII… that’s 1842 and has been the setting for many TV shows and movies:

• Downton Abbey

• Eyes Wide Shut – Tom and Nic at a masked ball.

• The Legend of Tarzan – with Margot Robbie who spent the day hanging from a tree on the grounds.

• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – where Kevin Costner played the notoriously English character in his distance American accent.

• Infinite – where a man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives.

• The Missionary – In the early 20th Century, devout Reverend Charles Fortesque returns to England from his missionary work in Africa and, despite plans to marry his childhood sweetheart, receives a most unusual assignment: minister to the local prostitutes.

• Jeeves and Wooster – Starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie

• The Secret Garden – Mary Lennox is sent to live at Misselthwaite Manor where she befriends a young boy and learns about a secret garden.

• The Four Feathers – A young British officer resigns his commission just before his regiment is sent to battle and soon receives four white feathers from his friends and fiancee as symbols of what they view as his cowardice.

• King Ralph – that old classic starring John Goodman – A regular guy from America becomes king of England after a royal wipe-out puts him next in line.

• A Handful of Dust –
  The wife’s affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage.
  
• Back to the Secret Garden – Lizzie, an American orphan with a green thumb, gets to stay at an orphanage at an English manor after WWII, where she explores a secret garden with a magical door.

• Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming –
  Ian Fleming’s life (1908-64) as a journalist and a naval intelligence officer was a lot like the womanizing James Bond, about whom he would later write 12 spy novels.

• Duel of Hearts – Lady Caroline Faye (Alison Doody) meets Lord Vane Brecon (Benedict Taylor) and is attracted to him. When she finds out that he is being accused of a murder he did not commit, she sets out to prove him innocent, and takes a position in his family castle as a companion to his mother. She discovers that the Brecon family is not only wealthy in land and fortune, but rich in secrets lurking behind the castle walls.

• A Sense of History – The 23rd Earl of Leete shares brief moments of his life, the truth behind his family estate and his particular glorious moment when he murdered his wife and his brother.

• Maid in Britain – An examination of the British obsession with class divide, and the great television dramas which have resulted.

• Marple – Miss Marple investigates the wealthy Crackenthorpe clan, believing a body to be hidden on their estate after a visiting friend witnesses a brutal strangling murder occurring on a passing train.

• Antiques Roadshow!

We weren’t allow to take any photos inside, so you’ll just have to watch one of the many movies or eps of Downton to get an idea… through the magic of telly, it did actually feel smaller than what you see in the show.

As with all good stately homes, they kept the front and sides all lovely and the back is kept as bricks, because it was only seen by staff, servants and delivery people…

The grounds are absolutely beautiful and immaculately kept.

Downstairs in the servant’s quarters (where you’d imagine the kitchens would have been) they have a huge exhibition of Egyptian treasures – some that were found hidden in secret hidey spots around the castle.

The 5th Earl of Carnarvon, George was benefactor to Howard Carter – the chap who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Then we were treated to a lovely afternoon tea in the garden and a complimentary book, ‘The Earl and the Pharaoh’ – signed by the author, Fiona – the Countess of Carnarvon herself.

It was a super day out.

Farewell to our English country home.