I live in the real Downton Abbey – and its ghosts live on
When Julian Fellowes chose Highclere as the location for ‘Downton Abbey’, it meant capturing a bygone era. Here, the Countess of Carnarvon explains what it is really like living there today and how the phantoms of the past are ever-present
The most curious experience occurred at 9 pm one Christmas Day. With much excitement and fanfare, ITV announced the Downton Abbey Christmas special, which made it, in some ways, the fourth Christmas of that particular year. We all sat slumped in front of the television, as actors on-screen came in and out of doors in the room in which we were currently sitting and Lady Mary walked down the staircase that my nieces had just run up. It was all rather surreal.
Thus, Downton Abbey and Highclere became thoroughly muddled together, but real life and fictional life are not the same, and living and working in a castle today is somewhat different to the more glamorous world of Downton.
Highclere was built as a home in another era and for a very different world, yet today, courtesy of television and film, this ancient home, transformed over millennia, has become one of the most famous buildings in the world, recognised by over 300 million people. Its iconic golden silhouette rises up in every movie and series both as a beginning and often to accompany some key emotional moment unfolding in the script.
The Victorian architect Sir Charles Barry regarded the architectural harmony of the castle as one of his greatest achievements, but it owes just as much to the man who had the vision and finances (sort of) to commission the new Highclere. The 3rd Earl of Carnarvon was inspired by his travels through Italy but born in a time which revered a medieval ideal. The success of the resulting building is the result of both the architecture and the beauty of its natural surroundings, framed by the majestic cedar trees which dot the parklands.
The real heartbeat of any home comes from the people who live and work there as well as those who have contributed so much to it in the past. But unlike Blenheim or Chatsworth, beautiful palaces that they may be, the fact that Highclere was built around the sense of family is the reason Julian Fellowes wrote Downton with it in mind.
Millions of people fell in love with the characters of Downton and cared about them, tuning in each week to find out how they fared. Meanwhile, the real team at Highclere acted as the castle’s caretakers during the weeks and months of filming and as stewards and guides for the visitors who step through the doors into the dual worlds of Downton and Highclere.
In many ways, today’s Highclere is all about storytelling. From tales of living with a film crew, to the four-legged friends with whom we share our lives, to the marvellous parties, and the ghosts we meet en route, there is never a dull moment. It all knits together. The diversity and desire to tread lightly on this time-steeped corner of England are intrinsic.
Many of those stories come from those who have passed through our home. Evelyn Waugh, always searching for a family both in fiction as well as in real life, would comment in his letters that if something – the weekend or an entertainment – was particularly good, it was seen to be “very Highclere”. The 6th Earl of Carnarvon loved parties and was particularly good both at hosting them and being the light and life of any event, and knew everyone from Ian Fleming to Noel Coward. I hope we have continued to honour this heritage.
Back when we had not yet become Downton, I once received a call from my great friend, the late Kit Hesketh-Harvey, to tell me Joan Rivers was in town and wanted to see the castle. She duly arrived and, when downstairs exploring our Egyptian exhibition, looking at the replica mummy, Kit turned to her and said: “If I were you, I wouldn’t spend much time here or Fiona won’t know which one is the mummy.”
It was said in jest, and Kit had a manner that allowed him to just about get away with it, but Joan was not one to mince her words either. During a later visit, after Shirley MacLaine had played her part in Downton, Joan recounted how she had once thrown the actress out of her LA home, and grabbing hold of our visitors book, took great delight in scrawling unrepeatable epithets about Shirley, signing it all off with a flourish.
These days, at its heart, Highclere is a business. Like other stately homes, the house has had to find a new role in a modern world along with the utterly essential ability to bring in money, because, as sure as God made little green apples, money certainly never ceases to go out. There is never a day when a water leak does not appear, some picture hanging chain frays, the curtains travel from worn to hardly there, or a 17th-century suite of furniture has moved onto the endangered list.
Our business at Highclere has to support the castle and gardens, eight follies, a spectacular medieval barn dating from 1435, nine miles of private roads, goodness knows how many miles of water pipes, circa 200 employees, 40 cottages, far too many roofs and chimneys, ancient walls, fences and footpaths and so on.
Some 100,000 visitors a year need to be kept safe and we, like so many others, are currently facing a tree crisis as thousands of ash trees are dying and have to be removed for health and safety. Thus, the challenges of leaks, bursts, falling trees and blockages all mean every day can be a “Highclere day”. In addition, we are doing all we can to support the farming enterprise as, like other farmers, we think everyone likes to eat – something.
Ready for the challenge of the new day, I wake a little before 6am to listen to the farming programme on the radio. For six years, the early months of the year then began with tyres crunching on the gravel under the window as the film crew and their endless white vans arrived in the dark. Trying to open at least one eye, as I could under no circumstances be described as a morning person, my husband Geordie – the eighth Earl of Carnarvon – would arrive back in our bedroom bearing a tea tray, which always improved matters.
All of us at Highclere learnt a new language during the months of filming. “Directors stepping on…” meant the director was entering the room where the scene was being filmed, as otherwise he would be sitting in video village, which was a mass of monitors in another room. “Travelling” meant an actor was being driven the 100 yards down the drive while “GV”. Meanwhile, “wild card” meant they were taking an audio recording only of the scene and “going again” meant what it said – and we did hear this rather a lot.
One of the most often-asked questions about life at the real Downton Abbey is whether it is haunted, to which I reply, it is not, but there are a number of ghosts or presences at Highclere. Apparently a few appear in the park, there may be some restless souls by the bronze age tumuli (I have to say I have not looked), there is one in a Yew tree, one in the Tower, various presences on the top floor, a lady in black by the gothic stairs, one who I saw in an old downstairs corridor, one who sits on the foot of a bed every so often and one lady who used occasionally to follow me round the Gallery. Everyone here has their own story and the places they don’t like to visit on a gloomy evening.
No ghosts made an appearance in Downton Abbey, but yellow labradors were very present. All my dogs loved the filming, recognising the presence of unit base from half a mile away. There was a rolling food service and sometimes even film set food as well. At the end of each day, there would be innumerable bins to investigate and sudden deafness to all entreaties until eventually I would have to drive round in a car to spot them.
Life takes on a different rhythm today, and at Highclere proceeds in step with the calendar and, as with many communities in England, the primary topic of conversation is the weather. There is usually something wrong: it is too cold and wet, too grey, too snowy, or else too hot and dry; all of which affects horses, gardens, farm and visitors. As the Dowager Lady Grantham remarked when asked, “What do you think makes the English the way we are?”: “I don’t know. Opinions differ. Some say our history. But I blame the weather.”
Highclere is a way of life and, just like the famous TV series, my new book celebrates the eccentric, kind, hardworking people, full of good humour, who enable it to continue whatever the weather.
Is this really the last chapter for our Downton era? I am quite sure all the dogs of Highclere would very much appreciate further filming options, because too much of everything is never enough.
‘A Year at Highclere: Secrets and Stories from the Real Downton Abbey’, by The Countess of Carnarvon, is published by Century, available now (RRP £22.00)
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