Downton Abbey

Last week in the UK, Downton Abbey began its fifth season.  To celebrate the return of the dramatic Crawley family and their band of loyal servants, David and I are finally posting a blog about our springtime trip to Highclere Castle, best known as the setting for Downton Abbey.

Highclere is a beautiful castle located in Hampshire, just a short drive out to the country from London.  Every year during the offseason, while the Downton cast and crew is on holiday and not filming on-location, the castle opens its doors to the public.  As the grounds are only open about 60 days each year, tickets are very difficult to come by.  We searched the first week they went on sale to find all weekends completely sold out.  Luckily for us, one of my girlfriends from the Junior League of London was able to get tickets for her and her family.  When her relatives from the states had to unexpectedly postpone their trip, she sold them to me!

David and I know how much Karen loves Downton, so we offered the other ticket to her, and one overcast morning, we all took the short drive from Karen’s house to Hampshire.

As we toured the home, we realized that so much of the show draws on Highclere Castle’s own remarkable history and the lives of its current owners, the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon.

The countess has written a couple of books detailing the lives of Highclere’s former inhabitants, one of whom happened to be a wealthy American woman like Lady Crawley.  Another book describes the life and times of Almina, who ran a hospital out of the castle during WWI, just as the family did in the show during one its earlier seasons.

Many of the rooms and much of the furniture is used during filming, but the Carnarvons do manage to live in the castle, too, with their family and playful yellow labs (like Isis, the beloved Crawley family dog).

After we finished our tour upstairs, we made our way to the basement, where we found a treasure trove of Egyptian artifacts!

In 1901, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon was badly injured in a car accident.  To improve his poor health, his doctor suggested a drier climate.  Obsessed with Egyptology, he began frequently travelling to Egypt and obtaining licenses to excavate.  Before long, he had teamed up with Howard Carter.  For 16 years, they worked side-by-side, and their hard work eventually paid off.  In November 1922, they found King Tut’s tomb!  Unfortunately the Earl cut himself shaving and died of an infection before the tomb was opened, but his castle back in England already held one of the best Egyptian antiquities collections in the world. 

After the Earl’s death, his wife found her money dwindling quickly, and was forced to sell his Egyptian collection to the Met in New York City.  In 1987, the family discovered that the Earl’s collection had not been lost after all… he had hidden his most prized possessions within the basement walls! 

To end our stay at Downton Abbey, we strolled across the expansive grounds to the immaculate gardens.  Then we drove through the village to have a traditional lunch at a local pub.

A few weeks following this day-trip, David and I decided to rent a Zipcar for the last time and drive out to another historic building – Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.  

Blenheim Palace was built in the early 1700s as a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, to celebrate his victory against the French at the Battle of Blenheim during the War of Spanish Succession.  In 1874, Sir Winston Churchill was born in the palace to his father, Lord Churchill, and his mother, Jennie, an American socialite.

The palace is absolutely enormous and the park surrounding it is grand and beautiful as well.  There are more than 2,000 acres of manicured lawns, a Roman column, a Greek temple, ponds full of fish and geese, and formal gardens.

We could have spent all day touring the palace and walking through the park, but since I had never been to Oxford before, I wanted to spend that Saturday afternoon exploring the famous college down the street. 

Little did I know that that Saturday happened to be the same day that Chelsea Clinton received her doctorate from Oxford University.  With President Clinton and Hillary Clinton in town, traffic was horrendous.   It took us about an hour to get into the city centre, and by then there was absolutely no parking and crowds everywhere.  We decided to head towards home instead. 

It wasn’t until the next day, back in London (reading an article on People.com), that I realized the Clintons had been in Oxford with us the day before!  Poor planning on my part… but Oxford isn’t going anywhere, and I’m confident we’ll have the opportunity to visit during a less-busy time in the future.

So on Saturday afternoon, on the way home to London, David and I decided to stop at St. Albans instead.  St. Albans is a quaint town just 20 miles outside London, famous for being home to the country’s oldest pub, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks.

We had lunch in the pub, which was built 1,000 years ago.  However, it didn’t get its name until the 1800s, when cock-fighting became extremely popular.  The pub is also known for hosting Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the country during the English Civil War.

St. Albans is also home to St Albans Abbey, where the saint by the same name became Britain’s first Christian martyr when he was beheaded by the Romans in AD 324.

From the pub, we walked downhill to Roman ruins.  St Albans, or Verulamium as it was called 2,000 years ago, was one of the largest Roman settlements in England.  In AD 61, it was sacked by Boudicca (the Celtic woman who led a rebellion against the Romans and also burnt London to the ground), but rebuilt to become an important centre of culture – containing a forum, basilica, and theatre.  The Romans deserted the town in AD 400.  As Verulamium is now designated a city park, much of it remains unexcavated, but portions of the city wall are visible.

David and I loved our last couple of road trips out of London to the country to explore these castles and palaces and ancient towns.  We are looking forward to visiting Highclere Castle again soon - this time on the small screen, when Downton Abbey returns for US viewers early next year!