With the announcement that Downton Abbey’s sixth season will be its last, airing this autumn and ending with one final Christmas special, it is certainly time to take advantage of the incredible sights featured in the period drama.
Filming of Season 6 began in March and will take place over the next few months. GoEuro recently published a feature detailing all of the fifth season’s most beautiful and important locations: Downton itself, the Dower House and Downton Village among others.
While Lady Isobel may have announced that she isn’t upset about Downton coming to an end, it doesn’t mean that we, the diehard fans, aren’t a little disappointed.
The new season is sure to feature lots of new sights and stories. Season 6 will pick up six months after last year’s finale. Rose and her man have finished their honeymoon and are settling into life in New York, not terribly far away from Tom’s Boston home. We can’t expect to see very much of Lady Rose this season since Lily James is currently wowing Hollywood, most recently in Kenneth Branagh’s live action Cinderella. Reportedly she asked not to be killed off since she has loved working on the show so much and will definitely be featured in the series finale.
There’s no better way to cure the final season blues than with a trip to some of the sights the show has made so famous. Once an early 19th century estate falling into serious disrepair, Highclere is now one of the most popular day trips from London.
Financing from both the show and the surge in tourism has enabled the owners of the home, the Earl of Carnarvon and his wife, to invest in the grounds and house. The first season of Downton saw far fewer on location interior shots since the house was literally falling apart, but recent developments and work on the structure have changed that. Visit in July and August for tours of the gardens and the interior!
Visiting the Dower House without Maggie Smith seems as though it would be a little disappointing, but the house and garden are so stunning in person that they almost make up for it. You will need to make a reservation some time in advance, just as Sprat would have wanted, but you can schedule tea times in the house served in the old style. Lady Grantham almost certainly wouldn’t approve, but doesn’t that make it all the more fun?
The town of Bampton, or as we know it Downton Village, is home to a few of the show’s most recognisable sites: Mary’s and Edith’s (well, almost) weddings took place in the town’s church and the central square was heavily featured in last season’s War Memorial debate. The most recent press shots show the cast filming in a small market town in Wiltshire so we can be sure to expect lots of more debate surrounding the Village of Downton in the final season.
Despite Hugh Bonneville’s assurances that there is no Downton spin-off in the works we can always hope for more.