Lady Rosemary and the Real Downton Abbey

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I'll admit it. I gave a little yelp of delight as our car continued up the long driveway and I caught my first in the flesh look at Highclere Castle, the stately home that is used in the PBS series Downton Abbey. I swear I heard the theme song and expected to see the white dog (Isis) wiggling her way to Lord Grantham's side.

Let me explain. Unexpectedly, my husband needed to go to London for the London Book Fair. I've been to London many times and had no legitimate reason to go - in fact I should have stayed home to cathc up on the tons of work which I still haven't caught up on. And that includes everything from writing to getting the window in my bathroom (which hasn't closed properly for 15 years) fixed. And then there was the sheer joy - sorry honey - of having some time alone. With no one to talk to but the dog. These days that's a real treat for me.

But Downton Abbey's second season had just ended. And on a flight to Dubai in February I watched the entire season again. How would I last until next January when season three is to start? I ordered three books from Amazon including Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey which I enjoyed immensely. There were pictures of Highclere. There really was a Bates (although not a valet.) The lady of the manor really did turn her home into a hospital during WW1. I googled the home. Yes! They did give tours and they were less than 2 hours outside of London. I could take a day trip.

But they were sold out for the day we arrived. And I couldn't leave earlier because mof a work commitment. And that was the last day until June when the house would be open to the public. I emailed four times. No ticket brokers. No packages. No hotel packages. No waiting lists. I was as plucky and as optimistic as one could be in an email. I dropped "the London Book Fair" as if to suggest I was the more famous Rosemary Harris. To no avail. I reported each failure to my husband


And then he surprised me. "I got the tickets. Do you want the house, the gardens and the Egyptian exhibit?"
I was flabbergasted. It wasn't clout or a close personal relationship with Prince William.

He emailed the director with the subject line "A Husband's Plea." He told them it was our anniversary - actually it was the 29th - and all I wanted was to see the place where Downton Abbey was shot. And they said yes! And the director sent us a lovely email saying that they hoped it would make beautiful memories for our celebration!

Is he a keeper or what? Anyway, here are some pix. There was a team of blue-haired docents who kept us from taking pictures inside the house (but I snuck a few.) I also dragged the poor man back a few days later and prowled around in the hopes that I would see them shooting. I didn't.

If you love the show, you will love a visit - I can't wait to go back.

In keeping with the post-WWI time period, today we are giving away a copy of A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd.

The Ups of Downton

DEBORAH CROMBIE: As host Laura Linney says in her introduction to Series 2 of Masterpiece Theater's Downton Abbey, "Who knew that it would be so much fun to watch a houseful of magnificently overdressed aristocrats living under one roof with their servants?"

But we fell in love with Downton Abbey in Series 1, on both sides of the Atlantic. Wildly. So what's so special about Downton? After all, we've been there before, haven't we, with Upstairs Downstairs? And there have been loads of period dramas over the years since.

But nothing has captured audiences' hearts and imaginations like Downton Abbey. Oh, the clothes! The hats! (I wouldn't be surprised if Downton Abbey was responible for an upturn in the millinery industry.) And the house! Highclere Castle in Berkshire stands in as Yorkshire's Downton Abbey, and it is a star in itself.

Creator Julian Fellowes speculates that part of Downton's success may have to do with the fact that Downton is NOT adapted from a novel, so we don't know what's going to happen. And he says it may satisfy a modern longing for a simpler life, without mobile phones and Twitter and, um . . . blogs.

In Series 1 there is certainly the romantic element that I've always thought of as the Edwardian Dream, those few golden years when life was good--at least if you were upper class, and male. But even for women and the middle class, things were changing, and the future seemed full of promise.

Now, however, in Series 2, that promise has been blighted by a war more horrible than anyone could have imagined, and the rigid rules of the pre-war generation will die with it. No longer will people know their place, whether it be upstairs or down.

So will we still love the Granthams and their servants as much?

Do we care if Anna and Bates will finally get their chance to be happy?

If William the footman will come back from the war?

Do we care what will happen to Lady Sybil? Lady Edith? Lord and Lady Grantham?

And, of course, the biggest hook of all--will Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley ever see sense and admit how they feel about each other?

Yes yes YES! We do care, because Downton Abbey is more than gorgeous clothes and houses and wonderful acting from a fabulous cast. Julian Fellowes is a master storyteller, and the characters are complex and very human. Just when you think you've found the villain you love to hate, like Thomas the footman or O'Brian the lady's maid or jealous Lady Edith, Fellowes shows us another side to them. (Although I must admit I have doubts about Mrs. Bates . . .)

(And I have to admit a burning desire to know how the women could eat all those meals and stay so thin! On Sunday we're going to have an Edwardian dinner menu here on Jungle Red, so come back to see what was in all those covered dishes the servants had to cart up from the kitchen. You will be astounded.)

So, readers and REDS, who are your favorite characters? Would you go back and live in Edwardian times if you could, upstairs or down? (Downton Abbey has fired great interest in the publishing world for books set in both Edwardian England and in the Twenties, and I highly recommend our Rhys's Royal Spyness series, as well as books by Charles Todd, Carola Dunn, and Jacqueline Winspear, to name just a few.)

And, readers and REDS, if you could see yourself as ONE character at Downton, who would it be?