Visiting Downton Abbey outside of London
The 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon still dwell under the sandstone turrets of Highclere Castle (Highclere Park, Newbury; www.highclerecastle.co.uk; 01635/253-204; admission £32 adults, £30 students and seniors, £17.50 children 4–16; last admission changes but it's around 3:30pm, grounds late afternoon), known to TV viewers as the idyllic and stately Downton Abbey.
Time and benign neglect had taken their toll on this historic home, so the current Earl and Lady have stabilized the structure and meet maintenance costs by welcoming visitors to tour some of the house, purchase themed souvenirs and buy books they've written, and explore a portion of the estate’s 1,000 acres of private rolling Hampshire countryside.
They also rent out to film production: The upstairs scenes of TV series and films of Downton Abbey were shot on the ground floor and first floor using the house’s actual furniture, though downstairs scenes were shot on a soundstage in Ealing, West London. That’s partly because at Highclere, the basement is full not of kitchens, as on screen, but of mummy stuff: The 5th Earl was the guy who bankrolled Howard Carter’s 1923 emptying of King Tut’s tomb in Luxor, so unseen beneath Lord Grantham’s feet lies a six-room exhibition containing ancient items taken from Egypt. (They'll sell you access to that for £140 as part of the From Downton Abbey to Tutankhamun tour.) The area immediately surrounding the mansion is generally accessible, but Highclere house itself is open only on predetermined days (so buy tickets online in advance to ensure you’re going on an open day), and they’re scattered all over the calendar—typically Easter Week, bank holiday weekends, and from July to mid-September (sometimes closed Fri and Sat). Check the calendar carefully, as rules and times shift constantly.
Taking a coach tour from London guarantees a ticket, but those can sell out months ahead and herd you along. If you show up independently at 10am or by 2pm at the latest, you can usually get a walk-up ticket even though advance tickets are sold out. The house also sells a variety of premium experiences such as Christmas tours (£135), picnics (£79 for two), and afternoon tea (no children for that), but online customer reviews report that some of it is too expensive for what you get and the standard house tour will satisfy most people. Among the many rules: No photos of the house’s interior are permitted, and backpacks must be left at reception.
Getting here on your own involves taking a 52-minute train from Paddington to the adorable town of Newbury (in town, admire the longboats on the Kennet and Avon canal and peruse the century-old village department store, Camp Hopson) and then a £25-ish taxi (try www.cabco33333.com, 01635/33333; or www.gogreentaxisltd.co.uk, order by app).