Summer Reading - The World of Downton Abbey

I know, I know, summer is over and I'm still posting about my summer reading list, but I wanted to let you know what I thought of each of them in case you might be interested in reading them. I especially wanted to write up my review of The World of Downton Abbey (by Jessica Fellowes) as I know there are lots of other Downton Abbey fans out there.

Sources: 1   2  

I really enjoyed this book and the information it provided about the world of Downton Abbey.  It covered life in country homes during the early part of the 20th century and the changes that World War 1 brought about to that lifestyle. There were interesting facts about what daily life was like for the wealthy homeowners and also for the servants. There were details on what one was to wear and when and the rules of etiquette.

Fun fact:  Did you know that married women were served breakfast in bed rather than having to go down to the dining room.  This meant they could relax while eating breakfast and more importantly could avoid having to put on a morning dress which meant one less dress change.

The book also gave interesting tidbits about the filming of Downton Abbey.  There are details about how they built the kitchen and servant's level (it wasn't filmed on location), and how the costumes were designed and sourced.

Fun fact:  Did you know that the costumes for Downton Abbey came almost equally from three sources - some were created for the show, some were vintage items, and some were rented (and sometimes had been used in other movies or TV shows).

Some of the information in the book comes from intimate knowledge of the TV series and life in a country home gained by the author Jessica Fellowes as she is Julian Fellowes's neice.  Not only does Julian Fellowes have the inside scoop on Downton Abbey being the creator, executive producer, and writer of some of the episodes, but he also grew up in country homes so has first hand experience of what life is like there.

The book is full of beautiful photos of country houses and scenes from Downton Abbey.  For me personally it was all about the dresses (check out the details in the gowns in the photo below. Gorgeous, right?)  It is hard to ogle the dresses while watching the TV show as they go by too quickly and there is far too much drama happening to also take in fashion so it was wonderful to have great big glossy photos to pour over.  

The World of Downton Abbey is a definite must-read if you are a fan of the TV series.

This is the last book in my summer reading list (Yay me! I read all six books I had planned on reading).  In case you missed the others, they are:

• The Help
• The Garlic Ballads
• The Great Gatsby
• Walden
• The Snow Leopard

What have you been reading lately?  

p.s.  Want to go on a virtual tour of the Downton Abbey house? Click here to have a look.

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Downton Abbey House Tour

Oh Downton Abbey, what is there not to love?  It is like the Triple Crown of TV shows with equal parts delectable drama, gorgeous clothes, and an amazing setting. I know I'm not alone in spending as much time admiring the magnificent house as the antics of the Crawley family.  The location that has taken the world by storm is Highclere Castle - a real English country house where the shows are actually filmed.  
Highclere Castle is a Gothic revival style home lived in by the 8th Earl of Carnarvon and his family.  Highclere has been in the Carnarvon family since 1679.  The magnificent 1000-acre gardens were designed by Capability Brown in the 1770s while the house was extensively remodeled for the 3rd Earl by Sir Charles Barry in 1839–1842, after he had finished designing the Houses of Parliament.  
I love going on tours of country houses and since an actual tour isn't possible for me living in Canada (although the house is open to the public) I thought a virtual tour would be fun. Want to join me for a tour?
Let's get oriented on the floor plan. Do you see the orange arrow - that's the front entrance.  We'll start there.

Highclere Castle was faced in Bath stone when it was remodeled in the mid 1800s.  You can see the beautiful honey-coloured stone surrounding the front entrance.

ENTRANCE HALL

The entrance hall, which leads through to the saloon, is decorated with a Gothic fan-vaulted ceiling and a geometric parquet floor.

SALOON The saloon is a double-height Gothic style room that is the heart of the house.  It was built in the 1860s and features gorgeous stone carvings, a minstrel gallery, and a vaulted ceiling.  The walls of the lower level of the saloon are decorated with embossed leather wall coverings (circa 1680) that were brought back from Cordoba, Spain in the 19th century.  

STAIRCASE
The grand staircase is located in the great tower at the centre of the house.  The magnificent oak staircase which was built in 1862 took almost a full year to carve and install.  

DINING ROOM The dining room is decorated with soft yellow walls and curtains and a large Victorian table that can seat up to thirty people. The room is dominated by Van Dyck's enormous portrait of King Charles I.  

LIBRARY The long masculine library features mahogany carvings on the walls, gilded bookshelves, red curtains, and a magnificent collection of over 5650 books, some dating to the 16th century.  The design of the library is unusual in that it is actually two rooms with an opening between them divided by tall gilded columns.  The library was designed by Sir Charles Barry and was based on the Reform Club Library in London.  

In the photo below you can see Napoleon's chair used when he signed his abdication. The chair was made for Napoleon and the Carnarvons have a sketch of him sitting in it. The chair and desk date from 1803 and were brought from Napoleon's house in St. Helena where he was exiled.

MUSIC ROOM

I didn't recognize the music room from the TV show and I'm guessing they don't use it very often because it is a smaller room and may be difficult to film in.  I did find one publicity shot of the three Crawley daughters taken in there though. The music room has a baroque painted ceiling dating from the 1730s and the walls are hung in 16th century Italian embroidered tapestries.

DRAWING ROOM

The drawing room was decorated in a rococo revival style by Lady Almina, wife of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, in 1895. Lady Almina was given bolts of green French silk by her father Alfred de Rothschild and she used the beautiful fabric to cover the walls.

I'm guessing the colours are most accurate in this last photo.

And if you want to recreate the drawing room in your own home you will find a great post here with more photos and purchasing suggestions.

SMOKING ROOM I couldn't find any photos from Downton Abbey filmed in the smoking room - again likely because of its smaller size.  The smoking room is adorned with many fine paintings from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

And that takes us to the end of our tour of the ground floor (I'll leave the upstairs for another post).  The lower level with the kitchen and servant's work rooms are actually a set and are not filmed at Highclere Castle.  
If you want to read more about Highclere Castle you can go to the official Highclere Castle website (here), or read this thoroughly researched post on Jane Austen's World (here with other interesting posts on the same website), or this interesting Daily Mail article (here), or watch the video clips below.

I can't wait to see more of the series and you can bet that I will have my eyes peeled for views of the interior of Highclere Castle.  Do you have a favourite room?  I love the drawing room with the beautiful green fabric on the walls, the gold decorations around the ceiling, and the chandelier.

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3 Fun Facts About the Downton Abbey House

I've finally joined the club - the Downton Abbey fan club that is. I was given Season 1 and 2 for Christmas and my husband and I have been watching them - trying to spread out the episodes so we don't run through them too quickly (we're still on Season 1 so don't give anything away. Okay?)
I was immediately drawn to the beautiful setting and had to find out more.  I did a little Googling and found out three fun facts about the house they used in Downton Abbey. 
1) Downton Abbey was actually filmed at a beautiful English country home called Highclere Castle located in Berkshire. Often TV shows and films will use the exteriors from real homes, but it is unusual to film the whole show in a real house rather than a set (although to be accurate the lower level servant's rooms were filmed on a set). I loved knowing that these were the actual rooms that they used.  

2) Highclere Castle is the home of the Carnarvons - the same Carnarvon family that uncovered the tomb of King Tut in 1922. The present Earl's great-grandfather funded the expedition that led archaeologist Howard Carter to discover the King Tut's tomb.  

At the entrance to King Tut's tomb in 1922 (from left to right): Lady Evelyn Carnarvon; her father, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon; archaeologist Howard Carter; Carter's assistant.

An exhibit has been set up to commemorate the 90th anniversary of that discovery.  Now many of the artifacts from King Tut's tomb are on display in the basement of Highclere Castle.  You can read an interesting recount in this blog post about visiting the display.

3) Lady Almina, the fifth Countess of Carnarvon (and the wealthy illegitimate American daughter of Alfred de Rothschild) turned Highclere Castle into a hospital for wounded WW1 soldiers in 1914, much like happened in Downton Abbey.  The present Countess of Carnarvon has written a book about Lady Almina.

Have you caught the Downton Abbey bug?  I'm busy working on another Downton Abbey post so stay tuned.

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