Downton Abbey

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The trip to London’s Heathrow was without incident. Everything was smooth. Because the flight from Houston was nearly 8 hours, we both managed to get about 4 hours of either sleep or total rest. That turned out to be wonderful for out energy levels during the day. By the time we cleared customs, got our luggage, got our rental car, and set it up to drive it was about 9:00 AM.

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Our first stop was Highclere castle, where Downton Abbey is set and where they do some of the taping of the show. It is quite impressive from the outside, and even more impressive from the inside. We don’t know how much of Downton Abbey is filmed inside, but certainly some of it is. And the scenes where the staff are all standing outside greeting visitors or sending them off is certainly filmed there.

Alas, pictures from the inside were not allowed so we cannot provide any visual evidence of how ornate it is. The library that Chuck would love to have had 4600 volumes in shelves that went floor to ceiling. I’m sure I would not want all the books—we saw a set of volumes on the history of the  English cardinals. There was a game room where the men smoked and played games after dinner, a room where the women gathered for their after dinner activities, a music room, a warren of bedroom upstairs, etc. The house is full of antiques and old paintings. It is hard to tell how much the house is in actual use by its owners, but it certainly could be used if they so chose.

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We were quite lucky because the Duchess of DeGraff was visiting that day and we managed to get pictures of her as she was entering the castle. What a gorgeous woman. I’m sure she had important business there—perhaps organizing the latest church event for the village. Chuck had a pleasant chat with her—she is a charming lady for sure.

We strolled around the gardens that were quite beautiful. There were multitudes of flowers of different kinds well tended set in beautiful spaces. It would be a great spot to have tea and a scone. 



Here are a few more pictures from the grounds.  

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© Charles Eklund 2012