Downton Abbey

We are fans of a British television series called Downton Abbey.  It's not particularly high brow, but it has that Englishness that everyone thinks of when thinking of England - a fabulously big house in beautiful countryside and full of huge oil paintings of long but not lost ancestors, beautiful gowns and jewels on a bevy of beautiful young ladies, high born people with their loyal servants, and a round of dinners and parties and dances and "at home" afternoons, all sweepingly depicted with the gentlest of hands.

There's also got to be at least one rebellious youth who chooses love over duty, one underhanded servant who gets their come uppance, one low born but deserving person who ends up with a vast inheritance, and at least one old battle axe of a woman who speaks her mind no matter what the consequences.  Downton Abbey has all of these and many in multiples.  Not to mention a scriptwirter who is a lord and at least one Dame in the cast of actors.

The site used for the TV series is a place called HighClere house, the seat of the Earl and Countess (I wonder if an 'Earless' is a widowed Countess) of Carnarvon and his family.  The family still lives in it, but like virtually all families who own enormous piles, they have to open it up to the public to earn enough money to keep it.  So it must have been a great joy to have a television series use the house (and its interiors too) and one that is so wildly successful as to have a second and a third series, let alone a Christmas special. 

The place was certainly hopping when we were there, but as most of the visitors were quite elderly citizens who had arrived en masse in large buses and coaches, perhaps 'hopping' is not quite the right word.  Fashion-forward Martin was a bit piqued to see a very elderly gentleman wearing a sweater of the exact hue as his Armani Exchange pullover!

Gillian, a fan of the show as well, went round the house with us to look at the fabulous central room and all the other rooms that the series used, with printed notesindicated which character is supposed to have used which bed, etc. 

HighClere is not open to the public on the weekend, because it is rented out as a wedding venue, which would no doubt help the financial coffers immeasurably.  Its a very distinctive setting that is grand grand without being overpowering, like a Versailles or a Blenheim Palace for example. the grounds too are lovely and provide many good vantage points for picturesque photos.

The oddly square tower is so out of proportion to the rest of the building, which was carbunkled on top of what looked to be a nice but indistinctive Georgina house in teh 18th Century.  Highclere's image was used everywhere, including the sandwich wrappers, which might be the most amusing souvenir, as we felt the shop was very dull and leaves a lot to be desired, although

Butlers, but never Earls or Countesses