Fans of the BBC drama Downton Abbey don't have to wait until the show's season premiere in January to get their fix. Instead, they can visit Highclere Castle in England, where the show is filmed, to take a tour of the location this summer. According to MSNBC, the castle will be open for tours Sunday through Thursday beginning July 1.
Currently, the real-life residents of the estate are Lady Fiona and Lord Geordie Carnarvon, the L.A. Times reports. The castle, which was designed and built by architect Sir Charles Barry, has been in that family for generations. Highclere Castle is not Sir Barry's only high-profile work -- he also designed the Houses of Parliment.
Highclere was completed in 1842, sitting on 1,000 acres of land that had belonged to the Carnarvons since 1672. Although it's located in an idyllic countryside, the castle is only an hour-and-a-half away from London by car, and when you're there, you can to explore the impressive home. It features a saloon, a music room, a smoking room, a library, a dining room, a drawing room, and, of course bedrooms. A tour also includes a visit to and the castle’s gardens and woodlands. They advise ordering tickets through the Internet ahead of time and prices for a tour of the castle, exhibition and gardens range from about £9.50 (US $14) for children to £16 (US $25) for adults.
The website for the castle says that the expansive gardens will present “riotous displays of color” but inside of the castle is equally stunning, to be sure. For example, inside Highclere Castle you'll find a portrait of King Charles I that Anthony van Dyck painted in 1635. The painting gets a lot of screen time on Downton Abbey, as there are many shots of it in the background during scenes with Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville. The portrait is displayed in the dining room.
According to Lady Carnarvon, however, there are many other highlights to see."That painting is particularly fine, but there are three Van Dycks in the dining room," she said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "There are 15th-century Italian embroideries in the Music Room, and 18th-century silk bed hangings, and 400 years worth of European and English paintings and furniture throughout the castle. Not to mention those 5,000-year-old antiquities from Egypt.”
Far less old-fashioned are the pieces of filming equipment that are around the house while the cast and crew shoot scenes. The show is mainly shot on the estate, rather than in a studio. Yet, Lady Carnarvon doesn't seem to mind this minor inconvenience, especially in comparison to the perks of hosting the show.
"The best part has been sharing this romantic castle and home with so many people from around the world,” she told the Times. "And 'Downton' has helped revitalize an interest in history."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
