This is the first of a mini series of 10 reasons to visit West Berkshire that we wrote for our Discerning food and travel blog. I live there some of the time and want to share it with you for when you visit the UK.
Highclere Castle (above) is in real life every bit as lovely as in the BBC series Downton Abbey though the rooms will strike you as smaller than the wide angled camera lens magic used in the drama. The days it is open to the public are erratic so check them before planning your visit at https://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/public-opening-times-and-prices. When I went the wife and children of the current Earl were showing the guests around! If you don’t want to visit on a normal viewing day, you could attend one of the public events listed on the website such as the country agricultural fair (aimed at families) in the Summer or a recital concert at the Newbury Spring Festival (see below) which needs to be reserved on the first day booking opens.
What a lot of people don’t know (and why I get to call this a secret of West Berkshire!) is that one of the previous Earls of Highclere was the Lord Canarvon who funded Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt and there is a very interesting special museum dedicated to this, complete with replicas of some of the finds. Lady Carnarvon has written a short and gripping book about the discovery which I came across when I was in Egypt and highly recommend.The full title is “Carnarvon and Carter-the story of two Englishmen who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun”. You can also read all about Highclere, Downton Abbey, past generations of Carnarvons and Tutankhamun on Lady Carnarvon’s personal website: https://www.ladycarnarvon.com.
if you don’t have a car you can do it as a day trip by train from London Paddington to Newbury from where you would take a taxi to Highclere. Alternatively there are organised coach tours. For Downton Abbey fanatics you can spend 160 pounds on a Downton themed tour from London with stories about the making of Downton and all the places used as sets including Highclere itself and the village of Brampton. You’ll even see episodes on the bus. https://britmovietours.com/bookings/downton-abbey-tour/. It sounds expensive but going under your own steam by train won’t be cheap (40 pounds return train fare, 20 pounds return taxi form the station and 15 pounds entry fee) so if you are over here on holiday it is worth considering.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like the one i wrote on soufflé and cocktails at the lovely Ritz hotel in London https://steemit.com/travel/@katythompson/divine-cocktails-and-soufles-at-the-ritz-hotel-s-rivoli-bar-in-mayfair-london . It isn't too late to up vote that one as those who saw it loved it but for some reason hardly anyone saw it :-)