Chuffed To Be Here!: A Day at Downton Abbey

Early this year - before we moved to BST (British Summer Time), before there were any buds on the trees, before we put away our winter coats - a little notice went out to the American Women's Club membership. Would there be any interest in a day trip to Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey)? Are you kidding??? This was THE hottest event of the year!! 19 September was the date! Those 30 spots sold out in record time with a wait list firmly in place. Now we could only wait.

And wait we did. Spring finally came. We finally shed our winter coats in favor of - well jackets! We celebrated Queen Elizabeth's 60 year reign with a flotilla of over 1000 vessels and more pomp and ceremony than many of us have ever seen. We waited... and held our breath as Andy Murray lost to Federer in the finals of Wimbledon. We waited... and watched the world descend on London. We waved our flags, wore our flag capes and celebrated as these premier athletes of the world came together for the Olympics and Paralympics. We waited... and as summer fell away to autumn we watched Andy Murray win the US Open. The year of superlative events had ended save the last one...

Early morning September 19th arrived and 30 women were excitedly waiting for their coach to arrive in Sloane Square. The time had come!! And what a beautiful sunny autumn day it was! No brolleys needed today! Armed with take away coffees, teas and lattes we set off.

Highclere Castle is about 60 miles west of London on the A34, off the M4. To the north lies Oxford and Birmingham. Highclere Castle is to the south. The road narrows and twists along. The sheep are lazily grazing in the beautiful green English fields as they have probably done for centuries. Thatched roofed cottages are glimpsed every now and again. And then - there it is and it does NOT disappoint!

Highclere Castle!! It was as majestic and beautiful as I thought.

There is thought to have been a house of some sort here for over 700 years. An earlier house was actually the medieval palace of the Bishops of Winchester. Following the dissolution of the church in the 1500's under King Henry VIII, the estate became home to the Carnarvon family.

Highclere House underwent a grand remodel in the mid 1800's by Charles Barry - the man responsible for the distinctive House of Parliament. The style is called Jacobean and is faced with that beautiful honeyed Bath stone. The towers were also added at this time. It was sometime after this remodel that it went from being Highclere House to Highclere Castle.

We were greeted with boot scrapers in the form of a wyvern. This 2 footed creature is not to be confused with its cousin - the 4 footed dragon (who knew?!). It is frequently seen on British coats of arms and flags.

Not to mention the friendly creature that eyes you as you walk into the house!

Alas no photography was allowed inside the house. I am attaching a link to the Highclere Castle website with pictures of the interior. Please take a look - Downton Abbey fans will recognize these surroundings!

We walked in through the door that Carson greets guests to Downton Abbey. We were led from the entrance through a foyer to tea waiting for us in the beautiful saloon! We kept pinching ourselves - are we really here??? We were divided into 2 groups and taken on a tour of the house. From the 1600 leather wall coverings from Spain in the saloon to the overwhelming library of 5600 books - this house clearly had the WOW factor! This home is available for a private venue hire - weddings, concerts - the wheels are spinning!

But Downton Abbey is what drew me to Highclere Castle! There are so many beautiful Victorian manor houses in England but this is the one I wanted to see. Like so many others, I have been captivated by Seasons 1 and 2 of Downton Abbey and it has just returned (in the UK) for Season 3. I was thrilled to stand in the dining room where I have watched many Downton dinners. There was Van Dyk's painting of Charles I that graces the wall behind that beautiful table. Or the library where the lord of the manor spends a lot of his time. Or the bedrooms upstairs. I could just about see the house come to life with the Downton characters!

Soon it was time to leave the rooms of Downton Abbey and continue on. One other tidbit about Highclere - the 5th Earl of Carnarvon of Highclere and his archaeological colleague, Howard Carter, discovered the Tomb of the Egyptian Boy Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, in 1922. There is an Egyptian museum in the basement of the house.

We could resume taking pictures once outside the house but there was not much time left. This is the back of the house where we exited after walking through the Egyptian exhibit.

The outside grounds include some gardens but these were being put away for the winter. Most of the area is sheep fields. There has been sheep grazing here for hundreds of years and they look like they're staying!

This is a folly built in the 1600's to provide a charming view from the Castle and back to it. Follies are new to me since I came to England and I come across a fair amount of them. They are constructed primarily for decoration although they look like they could have a higher purpose.

And all too soon it was time to leave the world of Downton Abbey behind. We boarded the coach and turned for one last long look at this magical place.