Highclere Castle a.k.a. Downton Abbey

 Today Esther, Jo, and I drove an hour to visit Downton Abbey! (Potentially one of my all time favourite Christmas presents, thanks Matthew Scadden). The weather looked a bit dodgy especially after a week of very high temperatures and thunderstorms but today was thankfully much cooler and the rain held off until the drive home. 

Visitors must pre-book to go in and you have a morning or afternoon slot to arrive for, lots of hand sanitising stations around, masks on inside the house, social distancing, and a one way system inside too, so felt reasonably safe. We decided to do the house first and waited in the queue for about 45 minutes - they had benches to sit on every couple of meters which I thoroughly appreciated. While we were waiting the current Lady Carnarvon (she and her husband own the place) just casually wandered down the line and had chats with us which was rather exciting! Sadly no photography inside but it was very special to be able to walk through the library, bedrooms, dining room, drawing room, and entrance room all looking exactly as they do in Downton. A little bit surreal to be honest! I almost expected the Dowager Countess to come around the corner with a cutting remark... We also looked through the Egyptian exhibition as the 5th of Earl of Carnarvon was known for finding and financing the search and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb. It was really fascinating to see how this aristocratic family have managed to maintain a large portion of their estate and find new and innovative ways to move with the times. 

By this time I was starving and you weren't allowed to bring a picnic into the grounds, so we ended up buying lunch and eating it outside on the lawn. We spent the afternoon exploring the grounds around the castle though apparently the estate is 6000 acres! We found the distinctive conifer tree out on the lawn where many Downton characters have sat enjoying the view and the walled garden and secret garden were lovely. It was sadly very difficult to get photos without hordes of people in them but I've done my best and hope you enjoy them. I had an absolutely wonderful day and left with a very wide smile!