Fact: Lady Mary Crawley is my spirit animal. I know, I know, she’s mean, blah blah blah, but I love her and you can’t take that away from me.
Another Fact: Violet is all I ever want to be when I grow up. Boss. Bitch.
Now that those important life details have been established, let’s begin.
You could say I am slightly obsessed with Downton Abbey, so naturally I have been stalking the tour schedule for Highclere Castle for about 9 months. Since the castle is currently lived in by some lucky bitches, it only opens for a few weeks every season. In January, I saw my moment, and I took it. Tickets were booked for a lovely Friday outing in April.
Finally, after 3 months, the day was approaching, so naturally I needed a new hat for the occasion, because what would Lady Mary do? (and also because I just love ridiculous hats) Hat and champagne for the train ride acquired, we set off.
London Paddington —> Newbury
There are a good amount of taxis waiting at the Newbury train station to take all of the Downton fans to their home, so getting there is no issue, and for the return they will give you a card to call a ride.
Unfortunately, they do not allow any photography inside the house, so basically my dreams of taking a Lady Mary photo on the epic staircase were crushed. Don’t worry, I still pretended I was her when I walked down them, and it was glorious.
Although the inside of the house seems weirdly small, it is still beautiful and everything I dreamed of, but props to the cast and crew for all squeezing in to film. It doesn’t take long to get through the open parts of the house and the attached Egyptian exhibit, (the family that owns the house now is the family of one of the men who discovered King Tut) so keep that in mind when booking your return.
We left ourselves a LOT of time before our return, so we were left with plenty of time to frolic the grounds, buy multiple mini bottles of prosecco to consume onsite, and take at least 1000 photos, and hit the gift shop. I’m not saying I spent £80 on merch, but I’m also not NOT saying that. Anyways, I’m just gonna leave some of those 1000 photos right here.
Cue the Downton Abbey theme song.
And now, as usual, here are the truly majestic photos of me and some questionable poses.
Now Carson, fetch my things, I must go.
“Don’t be defeatist, dear. It’s very middle class.” – Boss Bitch Violet
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