Page 38 - WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE DISCOVERING ENGLAND

rom the empty gravel forecourt,
where normally a rank of ser-
vants greets distinguished guests,
w
Fas left to open the massive
I
wooden door myself. Stepping inside,
past the two winged dragons at my feet,
I immediately entered a privileged do-
main lived in by few but known to mil-
lions. I was in the real "Downton Abbey."
For a minute of two, I was the actor
Hugh Bonneville playing Lord Grantham,
gazing toward the overpowering Gothic
Revival great hall and saloon, with its
50-foot-high vaulted ceiling and adja-
cent broad oak staircase. Beyond were
the magnificent dining room with its
nearly life-size painting by Anthony Van that includes Bonneville, Dame Mag- acre working estate a little over an
Dyck of a mounted Charles I and the gie Smith and Elizabeth McGovern, hour from London. If the architecture
massive, clublike library containing vol- "Downton Abbey's" one constant is the of the manor house looks familiar, it's
umes hundreds of years old. spectacular estate and home in which because Highclere was redesigned and
the drama is filmed. For American au- enlarged in 1842 by Sir Charles Barry,
"Downton Abbey" is television's wildly diences, the fourth season of the se- the architect of Britain's Houses of Par-
popular period drama, following the ries debuted in January 2014 on PBS. liament.
fictional Crawley family and their
servants from the Titanic disaster The TV drama exists beyond the The program, aired around the world,
through World War I and into the un- imagination of screenwriter Julian has made Highclere Castle England's
certain 1920s. With an ensemble cast Fellowes as Highclere Castle, a 5,000- best-known country home, attracting

38 Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2014