In each room there was a guide and I got talking to one in particular about the filming and she said all the actors were picked up in London in the morning and driven down to Highclere, but by the time everything and everybody was ready to go at 5 ‘o’clock, an average of only about 4 minutes of filming was done per day. I asked how many visitors they got and it was on average 1400 (both online and walk-ins). Even on busy days they try not to turn any visitors away, especially coming from Scotland for instance.
Destination: Highclere Castle. Although I grew up within spitting distance of this place I'd until recently never heard of it. Onto the M3 motorway in the pouring rain we go. The M3 was undergoing major road works so from the moment we got on to the moment we turned off nose-to-tail traffic and still raining. Tom Tom took us off the motorway in Newbury and I expected the castle not to be much farther away but it was, so another twenty minutes after we arrived at the entrance to Highclere Castle. Online we had looked for tickets; it said sold out, but would it be on a day like this? Lucky for us not so; after parting with £26 for two tickets we headed for the front entrance. I’m going to have to mention a certain tv-series that took place here at some point, so why not now. Downton Abbey had put this place on the map again. With some 1400 visitors each day (5 days a week) and at £13 per head minimum you can do the maths: a pure gold mine. Still raining - I'll call it liquid sunshine from now on - and dark, the grounds and the natural rolling English landscape looked amazing. I'm not a particular big fan of Downton Abbey but I did recognise the huge tree in the grounds where Hugh Bonneville walks with his Labrador at the beginning of the programme. The grounds themselves - originally designed by Capability Brown - cover some 5,000 acres and are now owned by the 8th Earl of Carnarvon. Once through the front door - note not the servants’ entrance - we arrived in a large room in which I could hear everybody saying, ”Yes, I remember this from the programme”. I didn’t, in fact I didn't recognise any of it ( reminder to myself re-watch Downton Abbey). The castle from the outside looks quite magnificent but I didn't have that feeling inside, it looked a bit forlorn, to be honest. We headed up stairs and placards saying, “This was Lady Grantham’s bedroom, Lady Sybil’s, this is the room Mr. Kamuk died”. It all revolved around Downton Abbey, not the real history of the place. In each room there was a guide and I got talking to one in particular about the filming and she said all the actors were picked up in London in the morning and driven down to Highclere, but by the time everything and everybody was ready to go at 5 ‘o’clock, an average of only about 4 minutes of filming was done per day. I asked how many visitors they got and it was on average 1400 (both online and walk-ins). Even on busy days they try not to turn any visitors away, especially coming from Scotland for instance. Next we headed to the main central room with a huge fireplace and buckets strategically placed around the room to catch the rain. Now, with 1400 visitors per day and at £13 per head you would have thought they could have had the roof fixed. Talking to another guide she was quite happy to tell me how the Queen was a regular visitor, especially to the horse stud at the castle. I also have been around horses for a large majority of my life but once I started asking too many questions on the subject she backed off, back to the subject of the Queen. It didn't take very long to see all we wanted and before we knew it we were in a courtyard at the back with the usual gift shop. I poked my head around the door and soon realised there was nothing in there for me and headed for the grounds. The liquid sunshine had stopped but the view over the hills with low clouds covering the tops looked amazing and that's just your back garden if you happen to live there. I think we were very lucky to visit on what was a quietish day, no queues plus enough time and space to see everything, all in all an enjoyable morning. Time to head back to the car parked in a wet field then a quick pub lunch and home. High time I started watching Downton Abbey again.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
GaryBorn in Chiswick West London, grew up in Royal Berkshire, currently living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Archives
March 2016
|