A Visit to Downton Abbey

Just last week, I was able to visit the stunning Highclere Castle, known to many as Downton Abbey, when we made the short trip there from London on a beautiful summer day. As you can imagine, driving up and seeing the vista that is so familiar to fans of the show was thrilling.

Currently the home of the 8th Earl and Countess Carnavon, the home has experienced in the past a much needed "face-lift" after  going through a worrisome season of disrepair, which required millions to repair. Thanks to the arrangement of filming Downton Abbey there, the home is undergoing the some of the renovations needed to keep it the majestic and beautiful stately home it was created to be.

The writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, is a longtime friend of the current

Earl and his family, and has revealed that he had Highclere Castle in mind when he wrote the story of Downton Abbey.

The current mansion was largely rebuilt in 1838 by the 3rd earl when it was transformed to a classical Georgian mansion by Sir Charles Barry, after he finished building the Palace of Westminster.

Situated in a 1000 acre estate, the scene is bucolic. Sheep grazing on the hillsides,

and cedars of Lebanon from the 18th century shading the benches where it's easy to sit for a spell and imagine the characters of Downton Abbey strolling by.

The Queen has been known to visit from time to time. She is the godmother to the current earl, and she loves checking in with her horse racing advisor who is on the property at Highclere Stud.

Of course, in addition to the real life history of the estate, we were there to learn more about Downton Abbey, and indeed we did. The home is the residence of Lord and Lady Carnovan, so it is only open on a very limited basis for tours. When the crew of Downton Abbey decided to give up three days of filming on site last week, the Countess opened up her home for three days of private tours.

The show uses the home's furnishings for its scenes. Only slight changes are made. One example mentioned was that any portraits of this century's earls since the 1920's have to be replaced to be true to the early 20th century. 

Typically, the show films from February until July, this year finishing on July 12. The scenes with the servants downstairs are all filmed on a stage set in London. Even though the scenes may only involve 4-5 characters, there will be 70-80 crew members on hand.  A typical day of filming can take up to 12 hours, with maybe only 4-5 minutes of footage they actually use. They will typically work on a couple of episodes at a time. The director and lighting chiefs sit in adjacent rooms to the rooms being filmed to screen what they are getting, while the assistant director remains in the room.  

You might recognize this door from many of the scenes when guests are coming and going. Photos were not allowed indoors, regrettably, but I can tell you the interiors are amazing, and yet not so formal that you couldn't imagine someone still living there. Many family photos are sitting around, no one cared if you walked on the carpets, or touched the furniture--it's a home, and not a museum.

The more characters there are in a scene, the longer it takes, because they will film the same scene over and over again from different angles and varying perspectives of the characters. The dining room scenes can take the longest. Maggie Smith is the only character that will use a stand-in, on takes when her face is not directly filmed in part of a scene.

The butler awaited our entrance into that grand Gothic hall you've seen many times, and he welcomed us into the home where we gathered in the grand saloon.  The walls there are covered with leather from Cordoba, Spain, that were hung in 1862. Soon after our small group was collected, Lady Carnovan greeted us so warmly and graciously on the great oak staircase. She seems quite down to earth and was open to answering a few of our questions before we were divided into groups of a dozen with some of the guides. We were fortunate to have the head guide, who has been a friend of the family for 22 years, and  I found myself hanging on to her every word.

She works with all the actors and crew, trying to accommodate and anticipate their needs. She did tell us that Maggie Smith, perhaps because of her "life experience," requires a little more attention than the others. The morning room of the house is not used for filming, but it is a lovely and feminine sitting room, decorated with shades of soft green and chintz, designated as Maggie Smith's own private waiting room, until she is needed to film some of those choice one-liners for which she is known.

Today there are still over 50 bedrooms in the home, most of which are not used as bedrooms any longer. Some are currently offices on the top floors--many are no longer in use.

A visit to Highclere Castle also includes a tour of the Egyptian exhibit in the underground, which draws many students on field trips. The 5th earl, along with Howard Carter, discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun back in 1922 and the exhibit chronicles their discovery.

After finishing the tour, we retreated to the tea room for tea and biscuits, but not before being given 

goodie bags

containing a signed copy of Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, the story of the 5th earl's wife, who is the inspiration for some of the story line of Downton Abbey. The book is written by the current Countess of Carnavon.

One of the things the Countess shared with me personally is that she has a new book coming out this fall, titled Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey. Lady Catherine was the wife of the 6th earl, and an American heiress, so pick up both books if you are a fan of the era. She assured me it will be interesting to learn about the American heiress and the impression she made on Highclere Castle.

Sadly, I have no hints to share with you from the Highclere Castle family or friends about the new upcoming season, but really, we wouldn't want any spoilers now, would we?

I imagine we'll all be tuned in with an eager anticipation when the new season starts--in the fall for the UK, and January for those in the States. Until then, we can only imagine what happens next....

Weekend Getaway in Lincoln

Not with any connection at all to Abraham Lincoln, the town of Lincoln, England is nevertheless, quite steeped in history itself, and made a delightful week-end getaway for us. 

After detours to Burghley House and Stamford along the way from London, that threatened to keep us from our intended destination, we finally arrived in the lovely town of Lincoln by sunset, forcing us to save much of our touring for the next day.

We stayed at the Castle Hotel at the top of a street so appropriately named Steep Hill.

Full of medieval timbered buildings,

quaint shops,

and tea rooms, it was quite a hike up and down this ancient cobblestoned medieval lane that linked the modern center of the city with the Cathedral quarter at the top of a steep hill.

One of the most fascinating landmarks of the city is Lincoln Castle, a magnificent fortress

which was originally built by William the Conqueror towards the end of the 11th century.

166 Saxon houses were demolished to make room for the castle.

It has now been used as a court and prison for over 900 years. The Crown Court seen here was built in the early 1800's and is still a working court today.

The prison on the grounds, built in 1787, today houses one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta,

and recently served as the setting for the prison scenes in Downton Abbey, when Bates was imprisoned there. It was a replacement for York Prison which was mentioned in the story line.

When I watched the reunion of Bates and Anna again last night, the town of Lincoln served as the backdrop for their first meeting.

Walking along the fortress walls of the castle, you get a better perspective of the magnitude of the original fortress, and you can stand on the tower where the city's hangings took place or descend by a ladder into the dungeon where the prisoners awaited.

The grounds are quite peaceful today, but as recently as 1859, 20,000 people crammed into these lawns to watch the last public execution.

From the walls, you also have a stunning view of the city's most famous landmark, the Lincoln Cathedral.

Considered one of the finest Gothic buildings in all Europe, it doubled as Westminster Abbey in The Da Vinci Code. For 200 years it was the tallest building in the world, and today it is England's third largest place of worship.

We first entered at dusk as the choir was practicing for Sunday's services. The choir stalls built in the 1300's are magnificently carved

and the cathedral boasts some of the earliest flying buttresses.

The next morning found us back there for services where the light gently filtered in through the stained glass softening the ancient architecture.

And should you decide to make a visit someday, stop in at Brown's Restaurant and Pie Shop,  just a stone's throw from the cathedral, in this historic building for a dinner of pies

and puddings . Of course, in England a pudding can be most any dessert, 

and my choice that night was a sticky toffee pudding, a traditional favorite in Britain, and this one at Brown's ranks as one of the best I've had. 

A sweet finish to a delightful weekend!

Downton Abbey

The ever so popular British period drama series, Downton Abbey, premieres Sunday night in the US as part of the Masterpiece Classic series on PBS. It was when the series was actually winding down in England, that I began to hear over and over again what a magnificent drama it was, and so I began to watch to see if it would be broadcast again, perhaps even in the US. I was excited to hear that it will be shown on  4 Sunday nights in January beginning this week. The ratings were so high in England that a second season this upcoming fall will air.

The show is centered around the fictional Downton Abbey, the stately home of Earl of Grantham, and it centers around the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants just prior to World War I during the reign of King George V. I hear that Dame Maggie Smith is incredible in her role of Violet Crawley.  Hope you'll join me in this journey and let me know what you think!

Photo from The Spectator