which is why it’s open to the public only on cer- tain days, mostly in summer. A highlight of our tour is parading lord- and
lady-style down the castle’s oak staircase. It leads to another familiar sight on TV: the Saloon. Its stone fireplace and gilt-leather wall coverings appear in scenes such as the Servants’ Ball. Next we head downstairs to the Egyptian
exhibit. (Downton Abbey’s “downstairs” servants’ scenes are filmed on a London set, not at Highclere.) I’ve been a fan for all three years the show has aired, but my obsession with ancient Egypt dates back to childhood. Now here I am, peering at precious artifacts Carnarvon brought home from many years of archaeological digs. I’m delighted to see a hieroglyphic-engraved
Tutankhamun connection
Highclere Castle landlord and Fifth Earl of Carnarvon (left) with archaeologist Howard Carter at the King Tut excavation in 1922.
jar that Almina helped excavate—she usually accompanied her husband to Egypt. But I get goose bumps looking at a sepia photograph of Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter in Highclere’s library poring over maps of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. It’s not every day I occupy the same room where history’s greatest archae- ological discovery was planned—or walk onto the “set” of an internationally acclaimed TV show, for that matter.
Village life
Church bells peal as we arrive in Bampton, a village 20 miles west of Oxford. On foot, we follow the exuberant clanging to St. Mary the Virgin, a 12th-century parish church that we immediately recognize as the setting for two weddings and a funeral on Downton Abbey. A bride and groom emerge from the honey- colored, Romanesque church and brave the gauntlet of rice-throwing wedding guests before ducking into a vintage Rolls Royce. Inside, Ken and I admire the stone-and-
stained-glass sanctuary as wedding candles are extinguished and flower arrangements carried away. At the back of the nave, we discover a flyer showing Bampton’s Downton Abbey loca- tions—all on Church View Road, a row of old houses and stone walls. We follow the descrip- tions on the photocopied sheet, and there, out- side the churchyard walls, is Churchgate House, which serves as the exterior for the Crawley house where Isobel and Matthew live. (The inte- riors are filmed elsewhere.) Just down the block is the slate-roofed
Bampton Library, which doubles as the exterior 40 EnCompass May/June 2013
AAA.com
for Downton Hospital, where Dr. Clarkson treats the sick and wounded. We amble down the lane, noticing doorways that pose as Downton’s post office and the Dog & Duck pub. All these loca- tions look vaguely familiar … but not quite. Our guide sheet reveals that modern fire hydrants, litter bins and utility boxes are masked by shrubbery or fake postboxes to accomplish an early-1900s look. After our Bampton outing, we explore anoth-
er quaint Cotswold village, Old Minster Lovell, a surreally pretty hamlet with thatched-roof cottages and rose gardens. We stroll beside the River Windrush to the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall, originally home to Richard III’s henchman, Lord Lovell. Today, teens kick a soccer ball in the grass where the villainous—and recently disinterred—king strode during the 1400s. Over the three-day Bank Holiday weekend,
Ken and I are spending a few quiet days in a simple cottage just eight miles from Bampton. We’ve reserved a row cottage on the Buscot Estate just outside of Faringdon, Oxfordshire. Built in the 1870s, these cottages originally housed Buscot Estate’s agricultural workers. Our Rowleaze Cottage is just the sort of place Anna the maid and Mr. Bates the valet and would settle down. Our modest abode is ideal for day trips to vil-
lages and other sites, including the White Horse of Uffington, a Bronze Age equine outline chis- eled into the white-chalk bedrock of a hillside that’s visible for miles. One day we arrive in the Tudor village of Winchcombe just in time to watch the annual Country Show parade. A
Travel advisory
Photographs in Highclere Castle remind us that this is still a private home, which is why it’s open to the public only on certain days, mostly in summer. For historic lodging, England’s National Trust rents historic houses country wide (nationaltrustcottages.
co.uk, 011 44 1225 79 22 74). For AAA vacations in the area, visit
AAA.com/aaavacations and download the digital edition of our 2013-2014 AAA Vacations® Guide. (The download takes less than a minute on most Wi-Fi connections.) Pages 28-29 have information on a 15-day exploration of Britain and Ireland. Stops include Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and Stonehenge.
© David Cole / Alamy
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