For the Love of British Shows

  

 

Highclere Castle-from Wikipedia

 

This last week an OWW friend asked if I watched Downton Abbey on the PBS Channel.  She was having a conversation about this show with another person and she remembered that I love English movies of all kinds.  As “Call the Midwife” and “Downton Abbey” are my two favorite weekly shows and the fact that 50% of my ancestors came from England my answer was, “yes of course”. 

Now, if you’re not familiar with Downton Abbey, it is a great English drama shown on the PBS Channel on Sunday nights.  It is set in England, of course, era late 1800’s early 1900’s.  The story line involves the lives and current events of the Earl and Lady of Grantham, their three daughters, extended family members and lives of the service staff “downstairs”.  Both of which can get pretty dicey.  The main filming location for this period drama is an actual Castle located in Hampshire, England.  The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon are the current owners and permit the use of their home for the filming, weddings, etc. to offset the cost of maintaining this large Castle.  The Castle has Tearooms that are open to the public during scheduled times.  They serve coffee, tea and light lunches made in the Castle kitchen.  As I am also a huge fan of tearooms and going out for tea, this would be the perfect place for a lovely quiet tea.  I can just imagine Daisy and Mrs. Patmore, Downton Abbey’s Cook and Assistant, making up my order and Carson the Butler serving my tea.  I can picture my sister and I having a great chat over tea looking out onto the beautiful gardens.  Okay, enough of the whim of being in England drinking tea. 

  Highclere Castle Gardens - Wikipedia
 











As I watch this show every week I wonder how these large aristocratic families all lived in one big mansion together.   As husbands, wives and grandchildren were added over time, this had to be a full house.  All their lives were wrapped up in each other from birth to death.  I guess this was the accepted life of an upper class citizen.  I know their lives can look romantic and charming with all their money and castles or elaborate mansions, however, as in all households the truth is never known to outsiders.  This is made quite clear in Downton Abbey and the twisting of facts is a common place when certain issues are presented to the general public, as the marriage of the Earl’s daughter to the Chauffeur.  This could have been a big embarrassment to the family but the grandmother came up with a great twist of facts. 

However, as wars and economy changed the world, so many families were forced to down size and we began to see the single households of today.  Not that there aren’t still families living together, but by other means, such as the real Highclere Castle is currently doing.  Even though my whim or fancy would have me sitting in a lovely tearoom, in a castle, in England, having the staff serve me, in no way would I want the headaches of running or maintaining such a large residence.  I am happy to have my small house that I can clean and maintain myself and if I want to have tea in the garden, I have a very lovely backyard to do that in as well.  But I love watching how the British people lived in the past so I will continue watching  Downton Abbey every Sunday night.   And I'll be right there when the new season of "Call the Midwife" starts.  

References:

This same OWW friend was tooling around Goodreads and found a popular booklist called Downton Abbey-esque books.  The following is the top 10 books on that list.  As a fan of the show I plan to check out the books at my local library. 

1. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
2. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
3. Howards End by EM Foster
4. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
5. A Room with a View by EM Foster
6. The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes
7. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
8. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon
9. Below Stairs: The Classic Maid's Memoir that Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey by Margaret Powell
10. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton