Downton Abbey / Highclere Castle!

Dudes and dudettes and dudetarians. I was so excited for this day.

I love Downton Abbey. I miss it on tv. 😔 I hope they make Downton films forever!

Anyway, on this day, I was visiting Highclere Castle. This is where Downton is filmed.

Highclere Castle isn't the easiest to get to from London. There are tour companies that run trips out, but I like to do things on my own via public transportation.

I made my way to Paddington station and got on the train to a town called Newbury. This is the nearest train station to Highclere. I had booked a taxi from Newbury's station, something I was a bit nervous about. I'm just always worried things won't work out. But the taxi was right there waiting; I just had to look around a bit.

The driver of the taxi was amazing. I wish I would've gotten his name. It was about a 15 minute ride to Highclere and he chatted with me about the town of Newbury and, once we got closer, he talked about Downton Abbey. He mentioned about some fun facts and was just generally personable.

The cutest thing, and I wish I would've filmed this while we were driving... he started playing the Downton Abbey theme song as we were driving up. It was so adorable and I was just giggling and smiling to myself. He even offered to take photos of me when we arrived. Who does that?! This driver just really went above and beyond.

This was another place where it was just very surreal to be there and I was getting a little emotional about it. Even now, thinking back, I'm getting teary! Why do I do this. 😆 I just feel incredibly lucky to be able to visit these places. And there are just so many shows and movies and books set in England that are meaningful to me.

YouTube the Downton theme song to have it playing in the background whilst you watch this next video.

I admired it from afar for a moment and then made my way up to the line to get in. I was kind of surprised by the line, since it was timed entry. I think I waited probably 30 minutes to get in.

Got a good look at the outside while waiting.

Unfortunately they don't allow photography inside. (And there is a sign posted about this every five feet to remind you.) You do get to go through several rooms that you recognize from the show and films. You also get to see some rooms that aren't included and that are clearly lived in by the family. I had to chuckle to myself when I saw Garnier Fructis shampoo on the ledge of a clawfoot tub. It really reminds you that real people live there! (The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon and their children live there. Seems like they'd be able to afford better shampoo. 😆)

I do wish that they would've had an audio guide to help you learn about the place. Essentially it was just a walk through to admire the beauty with no real information about the rooms or family or the filming that took place there. It was also a lot of people -- too many, I'd say. But I did enjoy it. I think it took me 30 minutes to walk through.

After the house, I enjoyed the expansive gardens.

I really liked this wildflower meadow.

I set up my tripod and did the thing where you take a video and then take a screenshot from the video. I don't like this haha. The quality of the screenshot just ends up sucking.

There were a lot of people around and I just felt silly setting up my tripod. I really need to get over that and you'd think I would be by now!

I sat under a tree for a bit in view of the castle and just enjoyed. I didn't want to go because then it would be over. Eventually I called the cab company for someone to come get me and take me back to Newbury.

Boarded the train back to London. Ate some food at my room. My last thing on the agenda for the day was a concert at Royal Albert Hall, a very famous venue for music! It was classical music and it was divine. It was being televised on BBC, so it felt real fancy. The program was Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto, which doesn't mean anything to me but might mean something to you.

I bought the cheap seats that had an obstructed view of the stage, but that's a photo of the inside with the crowd. A huge, beautiful place!

A wonderful day!