UK Getaway: Highclere Castle (4 of 7)

Mom had a brilliant-beyond-brilliant idea. Danielle had a generous, adventurous spirit (and a car). And so, on Thursday we left Canterbury and departed for Highclere Castle and Gardens. If the name doesn't sound familiar or significant, just read on...

Approaching, mom and I were jumping up and down in our seats...

We rounded the corner and saw it in the distance...

Does this look familiar?? Highclere Castle is also known as DOWNTON ABBEY! 

The grounds were even more magnificent in real life!

We spent the afternoon exploring the castle and gardens

Oh how many important conversations have happened on this bench (where mom is sitting!)

SOOOO happy!

In the gardens

It turns out that there is a ton of the estate that is not used for filming 

Highclere's sheep 

The facade of the castle 

Interestingly, the current Earl/Duke/something like that actually LIVES there with his family. We were allowed to tour certain rooms (but couldn't take photos). It was really neat to see the characters' bedrooms, but both Mom and I were struck by how different many spaces felt as compared to our impressions based on film. It was also funny to see modern family photos strewn about the dining room. In the Master Bedroom, the current family's library books and toiletries were just part of the scene.

The only thing missing was Matthew Crawley 

Mom and I pose at the front door... we had the place to ourselves!

Sheep on the way out!

It was after our adventure to Highclere that we had to drop Marianne at the train station. She is living in London and producing a play, and she had a rehearsal on Friday morning. Although it was sad to say farewell, I know that we will be seeing each other SO soon (now that we are living in the same city again).

I will not go into all the details, but I will just say that we had QUITE an adventure trying to get to the next B&B on our itinerary. As it turns out, the UK has the worst road signs of any country that any of us has ever traveled to. Distances between points were never provided, speed limits were sometimes listed as "variable" (although you were simultaneously warned that you were being monitored by speed radar), MANY roads were unmarked, and other roads were missing names entirely (as in, mapquest had to just refer to them as "Road"). 

After 3.5 hours of driving, we were within 15 minutes of our final destination. However, we arrived at a short bridge only to discover that it was closed indefinitely. There was a giant DETOUR sign, but once you turned to follow it, you were left completely on your own. Night had fallen, our map no longer covered the remote area we were in, and we began to wonder whether we would make it to the Inn before their restaurant closed at 9pm. Miraculously, thanks to the power of GPS technology (which thankfully came back into range), we made it!

Celebratory drink! We made it with 10 minutes to spare!

After dinner we went up to our rooms... SO luxurious!

I had a long relaxing bath to end a fabulous (though exhausting) day and fell asleep dreaming of Matthew