If you love Downton Abbey...you might be interested to know...
It's true name, Highclere Castle, is actually the real life family home of Lord and Lady Carnarvon. At around a million dollars a year in upkeep, the life of the English nobility is no longer one of extravagant parties and opulence.
The fictional Earl of Grantham has struggled to keep hold of his ancestral home, and now things have never looked better for the owners of Highclere Castle, where the ITV drama is filmed.
Before Downton hit our screens, the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon admitted their Berkshire estate needed £11.75million worth of repairs, including £1.8million of urgent work on the main house.
Ravaged by damp and rot, at least 50 rooms were uninhabitable and its stone turrets were falling into disrepair.
But after their friend, writer and producer Julian Fellowes, asked if he could film his new period drama at Highclere, it has become one of Britain’s best-known stately homes.
As many as 1,200 visitors a day descended on the house in the summer, enabling the owners to begin major repairs.
Lord Carnarvon, 55, said the show had ‘taken the pressure off’ for them financially. He said: ‘At the time that we were approached about Downton, it was just after the banking crisis and it was gloom in all directions. We had been doing corporate functions, but it all became pretty sparse after that.
‘Then Downton came along and we became a major tourist attraction. It has been a wonderful thing for us and our visitor numbers have doubled.’
Redundant buildings have been turned into tearooms and a three-year project to fix those distinctive turrets is finally under way.
