Guide to Visiting Highclere Castle: The Real Downton Abbey

The popular TV drama Downton Abbey written by Julian Fellowes is in real life is known as Highclere Castle and it is a private family stately home and working estate in Hampshire England belonging to the Carnarvon family. Highclere Castle is the country seat of the Earl and Lady Carnarvon. In 2013 it became the Downton Abbey filming site. Visiting Downton Abbey is easy and you and explore the various rooms where filming takes place as well as the grounds and gardens.

Highclere Castle is more of a “country house” than a castle and is built in Jacobethan style of Bath stone combined with several towers built in an Italianate style, it was completed in 1842, with a stunning park designed by Capability Brown. Highclere Castle is just one of the filming locations used for the fabulous Downton Abbey Series and films visiting Downton Abbey is easy and makes for a wonderful day trip from London.

Where is Highclere Castle located?

If you have been binge-watching Downton Abbey during the lockdown you may want to visit Highclere when you come to England and visit the beautiful castle that became the home of your favourite characters. 

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Hubs and I only started watching Downton Abbey this year when we heard we were going to be in Oxfordshire housesitting. We decided that Highclere Castle was one of the sites we must see and then we learned that Downton Abbey was filmed at Highclere and so we began our binge-watching. We used Amazon Prime to catch all the series and the Christmas specials – well worth it.

Downton Abbey – a New Era is now streaming and the Crawley family will be back with new locations and new pastures to explore.

We hadn’t watched previously as back in the day Upstairs Downstairs was the period drama our parents had watched and naturally we found it a bit boring. We expected the same of Downton Abbey but found ourselves becoming quite addicted to the series.

We were aware that there were several filming sites for Downton Abbey and we decided since we were going to be in the “neighbourhood” so to speak that we would find as many as we could and check them out.

If you want to see all the places where Downton Abbey has been filmed have a read of this article. You will see Cogges Manor Farm, Lady Violet Crawley’s house, Isabel Crawley’s Churchgate house, Rose’s parent’s castle in Scotland and all the beloved places that make Downton Abbey obsessive viewing.

Distance from Downtown Abbey to London

Highclere Castle is situated about 45 miles (72km) west of central London. The nearest large town of any consequence is called Newbury which is connected to London by train.

How to Get to Highclere Castle from London?

Highclere Castle is around 5 miles (8km) south of Newbury. There is a very limited local bus service (around 3 or 4 buses a day) between Newbury and the village of Highclere, then a very long walk you can take a taxi from the Station.

Trains from London’s Paddington Station run broadly at hourly frequencies throughout the day to and from Newbury. A taxi from the station forecourt should cost about £15-£20 in each direction to/from Highclere Castle. Since the location is quite remote and difficult to get to I recommend the following tours.

How much time do I need to visit Highclere Castle?

We spent 4 hours visiting Highclere but that included a lovely afternoon tea in the cafe outside the castle and of course a gift shop visit.

When is Highclere Castle open to the Public?

Morning tickets allow entry to the Castle and Exhibition between 10:30 am and 1 pm. Afternoon tickets allow entry to the Castle and Exhibition between 1 pm and 4 pm. The last entry time is 4 pm.

For the ultimate Downton Fan the Downton Abbey Complete Series 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 + Bonus “Secrets of Highclere Castle” [Blu Ray LIMITED EDITION]

 

The Castle closes at 5 pm and the Estate closes at 6 pm. Once you are in the Castle you are not timed so you may enter anytime between the allocated times 

Parking at Highclere Castle?

The parking at Highclere Castle is free and as you can see from this photo there are lots of places to park. You then walk up the same path to the Castle that you see the characters in the movie using.

Highclere Castle History

Highclere is the official seat of the Earl of Carnarvon and has been in the Carnarvon family since 1679.The current Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert is Queen Elizabeth’s godson and his ancestor the 5th Earl of Carnarvon was the financial backer for the Archaeology dig that discovered King Tut’s tombs in Egypt. You will see when you visit that you can also take in a fascinating Egyptian exhibit that describes the search for the tomb.

William of Wykeham first developed a bishop’s palace here in the fourteenth century, complete with fishponds and deer parks.  That palace has not survived, and the house built in 1679, most probably on the palace’s site, has been rebuilt and remodelled several times. Today’s stately home owes most to Sir Charles Barry, best known for designing the Houses of Parliament.  The magnificent 5000-acre grounds were transformed by the 1st Earl of Carnarvon using a Capability Brown design, converting the fishponds into the lake.

Highclere Castle became Downton Abbey out of financial need. As you can well imagine this size of a house and its priceless treasures must cost a pretty penny to maintain. There are over 200 rooms in the castle and the struggle to pay for the over 80 staff needed for maintenance, gardening, tours, running the shops and cafes plus of course guides, farm staff, painters and so on requires very deep pockets.

The setting of Downton Abbey –  Highclere Castle  

Highclere Castle is set in the rolling hills and beautiful area of Hampshire. You arrive at the Castle site via a long road into the estate and when you see that beautiful castle at the end of the journey you do get a little Downton Abbey thrill and begin to remember scenes from the show.

Parking is in a large field below the house where you will see the entry gates and there is a lovely little Highclere Gin refreshment van with chairs and seating from which to observe the house at a distance.

Cost of Tickets at Highclere Castle?

Can I visit Highclere Castle without pre-booking my ticket? I would strongly advise that you book your tickets online and not expect to get them at the gate. The Estate is only open for a few months during the summertime and tickets do get sold out. Remember this is a family home and the Earl and Lady Carnarvon are often in residence at the estate. We booked our tickets online and then printed them off before we went the cost of an adult ticket to Highclere Castle is £24 which is pre-booked and guarantees entry to the Castle.

You MUST take a printed ticket with you as there is no phone app or other method to prove you have those precious tickets.  There is a ticket booth on-site where you can try to buy tickets but we saw several people turned away as no tickets were available.

You can purchase tickets to Highclere Castle and Grounds or you can buy tickets that include the Egyptian Exhibit. There are also numerous special events held throughout the year so if you don’t visit in the summer months you may find yourself able to visit at Christmas time. There are Cocktails and Costumes held in September and Christmas tours and events in December. Check out the website for events that you may be able to attend.

Tickets for the castle, exhibition, and gardens cost £24 for adults, £22 for over-60s, students, and disabled visitors, and £14 for children aged 4 to 16. Disabled visitors can bring a companion free of charge, and children under the age of 4 can visit free of charge.

You walk up the drive to the main entrance of the house and you can see in your mind’s eye Tom driving those incredible antique cars around the driveway and the servants standing outside to greet guests. You wish Carson were at the door to welcome you as you take a look at the dragon boot cleaners outside the front door.

Accessibility at Highclere Castle?

Wheelchairs are welcome around the Castle and in the Egyptian Exhibition (access to this is via the Courtyard at the back of the Castle). It is not possible to bring motorised wheelchairs into the Castle but they are welcome on the paths around the lawns.

Can you walk around Highclere Castle for free?

If you want to see in Highclere Castle you must pay for tickets, but there are plenty of walks around the estate that are public right of way.

Is Photography Allowed at Highclere Castle?

There is no photography allowed within Highclere Castle but you can photograph the grounds and gardens.

Tips for visiting Downton Abbey AKA Highclere Castle

1. The Castle is open only around 70 days a year and for 2 months during the summer, but there are special events taking place during the rest of the year so check the website.
2. If you plan to come during the summer make sure you book your ticket and print it to take with you otherwise you may not be able to get in as the tickets sell out very fast.
3. There is absolutely no photography in the house itself.
4. Don’t touch anything some of these treasures go back generations and are terribly fragile.
5. Pushchairs/buggies and large backpacks are not allowed in the house
6. No motorized wheelchairs are allowed inside the house but there are a few push wheelchairs available for use.
7. The house is not wheelchair accessible beyond the first floor, but there is a lot to see and there are detailed photo albums which show the upstairs of Highclere Castle.

Downton Abbey tours 2023

Visitors can choose their own Downton adventure. Self-guided tours of Highclere, as well as private and group tours of both the castle and nearby village, and even a multiday tour are among the options granting fans the chance to experience Downton. When visiting Downton Abbey or rather Highclere Castle you won’t be able to see all the rooms as many are closed off and awaiting restoration. However, you can see all the rooms used for filming the scenes of Downton Abbey in the show and movies.

Entrance Hall and main staircase at Highclere

Entering Downton Abbey (sorry Highclere Castle) you will catch a glimpse of the Entrance Hall and main staircase. This is a Gothic-style design that features beautiful soaring columns and a vaulted ceiling.  The staircase is a heavy aged oak and was only used by the family.

North Library – Lord Granthams office

Moving through the Castle from the left you will enter the smaller North library that is used in the filming of Downton Abbey as Lord Grantham’s office. Robert Crawley (Lord Grantham) was played by Hugh Bonneville. The library opens up into the larger library which is used in the show as a sort of reception room by the family where they host their guests.

The gilded bookcases of both areas hold over 5,500 books many are first editions. The red velvet settees and chairs settled in front of the fireplace bring back those Downton Abbey memories of the cast settling onto the settees for a chat a cup of tea. The library was used for drinks before and after dinner and in Victorian times it was the centre of meetings for Lord Carnarvon and his Conservative party colleagues.

Music Room

From the library, you enter into the Music room with its superb baroque ceiling painted by Francis Hayman. In the music room, you’ll find a mahogany desk and chair that was once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Third Earl purchased them in 1821 after the Emperor’s death. 

Drawing Room

The Drawing Room is beautifully decorated in a Rococo-Revival style by Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, with lovely green French silk curtains made and several family portraits of the Carnarvons. There is a beautiful grand piano in the room and it is also decorated with family photographs and fresh-scented flowers. The Drawing Room is the place where Highclere was converted to a military hospital during WWI. All the furniture was removed and stored and cots were placed in the room for the wounded soldiers.

Smoking Room

From the Drawing room, you will move through the Smoking Room. This is where the men would go for an after-dinner cigar and drinks. It is very masculine with its heavy velvet curtains which absorbed the smoke preventing it from moving through the house. The gentlemen would also have changed into their “smoking jackets” which were usually velvet as well.

Bedrooms used in Downton Abbey

At this part of the tour, you travel upstairs to view 12 of the bedrooms used in Downton Abbey. For each of these rooms, you will see a storyboard with the actors’ roles and names and a short description of the bedroom.

From Cora’s rooms to Lady Edith’s and even the richly decorated red bedroom which was used for the character Kemal Pamuk who was Mary Crawley’s (Michelle Dockery) lover in Series 1.  

The Arundel Bedroom – became a hospital for wounded soldiers

The Arundel bedroom and its dressing room were used as an Operating Theatre and Recovery Room during the First World War and the Mercia bedroom has a gorgeous four-poster bed decorated with 18th-century silks and matching furniture.

From upstairs along the corridors, you will catch glimpses of the Saloon and admire the vaulted ceilings and the columns in this gorgeous area. Travelling down the grand oak staircase you will find more family portraits and at the bottom, you will arrive at the stunning Saloon with its 50-foot high ceilings.

Highclere Castle – the Staterooms

The Staterooms are covered in a painted leather wall covering that is just outstanding. These panels date from 1631 and are incredibly fragile. They were imported from Spain and originally hung in the house in 1862. Due to the height of the vaulted ceiling, the room is acoustically balanced and entertainers, musicians and singers were often positioned on the second-floor gallery to entertain guests on the main floor. Of course, there are also the grand columns to the right and the magnificent marble fireplace taking centre stage.

Green Baize Door – Salon

Behind the green baize door of the Salon, there is a stone staircase that leads to the old staff dining room and sitting rooms, the kitchens, cellars and the other utility areas used by the servants of Highclere.  Back in the day, as seen on Downton Abbey this would have been used by the servants to come and go from the kitchens and servants’ quarters.

Egyptian Exhibition

From the Salon, you move into the downstairs portion of the Castle and the exit. This area of the house contains the Egyptian Exhibit. Carnarvon was the man who funded Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.  Upon Carnarvon’s death in 1923 his widow Lady Almina sold that collection to the Met Museum in New York.

However, in 1987 a hidden cupboard was found between the double doors leading from the Drawing Room to the Smoking Room and this held Lord Carnarvon’s private collection of artefacts. These are the items that are now on exhibit.

Map of Downton Abbey estate

Downton Abbey the grounds of Highclere Castle

In the 1700’s the First Earl of Carnarvon commissioned  “Capability” Brown to create the lovely formal gardens and surrounding areas of the estate.  This meant moving a small village that was on the property to make space for the park that would cover over 1000 acres to create the acres of parkland he desired.

There are 56 Lebanese Cedar trees on the road that leads up to the house. These seeds were brought to England from Lebanon in the 17th century.

Highclere Follies

Highclere’s grounds also contain several follies which were used as a quiet place for contemplation of the beauty of the landscape. There is no other purpose for a folly that was simply built as an ornament to the grounds.

From the windows of the Castle, you can see on the East Lawns is a lovely building with ornamental pillars called Jackdaw’s Castle, a folly built by Robert Herbert in 1743 to provide a charming view from the Castle and back to it.

The perfect Christmas gift for the ultimate Downton Abbey fan – Downton Abbey: A Celebration – The Official Companion to All Six Seasons (The World of Downton Abbey)

 

A second folly, an Etruscan temple, stands to the southwest of Highclere Castle at the edge of some woodland walks.

Located in an area east of the house is the Temple of Diana which was built around 1743 in the northwest near Dunsmore Lake, the lovely structure features Corinthian columns.  Another structure located to the south on Sidown Hill is Heaven’s Gate which was built in 1749. These follies can be seen from the Wayfarers’ walk and from London Lodge.

When exploring the Castle grounds you will see a wildflower meadow, Walled Garden and a lovely Secret Garden.  One of the highlights of the garden walks is the memorial for the B-17 bomber aircraft that crashed into Siddown Hill behind Highclere Castle on May 5th 1945. There is a wooden carving of the only survivor of that crash and commemorative plaques to those who died here.

Take a rest from your walk on one of the benches that have been carved to look like airplane wings with parts from the plane set within the bench plinths.

Who owns Downton Abbey?

You absolutely have to admire Lady Carnarvon and her husband who own Highclere. Lady Carnarvon seems to keep the whole place going and has changed the financial outlook for the property with her smart business plans.

Lady Carnarvon has written several books including Highclere, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey and At Home at Highclere: Entertaining at the Real Downton Abbey along with a book I can’t wait to get my hands on Christmas at Highclere: Recipes and traditions from the real Downton Abbey.

Lady Carnarvon also has a wonderful blog where she shares what daily life at Highclere is about, her favourite recipes and showcases some of the incredible special events that take place at the “real Downton Abbey”.

Can I stay at Downton Abbey?

Highclere castle accommodation if you want to live like a Lord and Lady there are also two properties for rent on the grounds of Highclere Castle. From the Castle’s website:

Grotto Lodge

Designed by Thomas Allom and built around 175 years ago, Grotto Lodge is a unique and stylish residence designed with a nod to an original Grotto within the grounds of Highclere Castle.

Set on the Wayfarers Way, Grotto Lodge sits in one of the best locations for country walks. The main part of the house is circular and affords the most outstanding views across North Hampshire and West Berkshire. Nearby is the lovely town of Hungerford, famed for its antique market and the handsome cities of Oxford and Winchester are a mere 30 minutes drive away. There are a number of delightful local pubs which offer a range of delicious home-grown specialities and craft ales.

Grotto Lodge has a double bedroom and a bathroom on each of the first and second floors. It has been beautifully restored by Lady Carnarvon maintaining many of the original features and allowing the circular walls to lead the eye.

London Lodge

Built in 1793 by the first Earl of Carnarvon, London Lodge formalised the entry to Highclere Park and was constructed to celebrate the Earl’s entry to the peerage.

The imposing stone archway, dressed with Coade stone and filled by the heavy iron gates, framed a grand entrance for family and visitors alike. The individual lodges, to either side, were added later, most probably around 1840. Over the past two years, they have been painstakingly restored by the current Earl and his wife to provide unique and luxurious accommodation for two.

The interior has been sympathetically restored using traditional lime plaster to the curved internal walls of the lodges and the principal rooms have large windows with bespoke oak wooden shutters, copies of the originals. The layout for both lodges has been kept simple; to the north-west, a charming sitting room arranged around a Chesney’s wood burner, and a fully equipped kitchen behind. Then across the lit, paved walkway to the bedroom lodge, a comfortable double bedroom, bathroom and dressing area.

How much does it cost to stay at Downton Abbey? I have absolutely no idea the cost of renting either of these places but a few years ago they were respectively around 1500 and 900 sterling per night, but they do sleep a few people.

Special Events at Highclere Castle

Special events at Highclere Castle include:

Castle Tours and Afternoon Teas

Month of June

Friends of Highclere Summer Garden Party

Month of July

Battle Proms Concert

Month of September

Magic of the Movies

Month of October

Highclere Castle Festival

Month of November

Real Lives and Film Sets

Month of December

Christmas at Highclere

Have you watched the Downton Abbey movies and have visited Highclere Castle or Bampton Village and the other locations you can see in the show?

Once you have visited Highclere Castle you can head to the Downton Village which is actually Bampton Village in the Cotswolds and see the other filming locations.

Downton Abbey village map

Highclere Castle Tours

Downton Abbey and Village Tour of Locations from London

Trace the footsteps of Lady Mary Crawley on a full-day tour of rural ‘Downton Abbey’ locations from London. Rewind to the early 20th-century Britain portrayed in the hit TV period drama, and tour the Oxfordshire village that doubled as Downton as you hear anecdotes about the series and actors. Plus, visit Highclere Castle, the real-life Downton Abbey, to explore its above-stairs rooms and gardens independently.

Highclere admission and round-trip transport included. 9-hour ‘Downton Abbey’ country locations tour from London Travel to the Cotswolds village that doubled as Downton in the hit TV series See the church and buildings used as the village pub, hospital, and home of Matthew Crawley.

Visit the real-life Downton Abbey of Highclere Castle and explore its rooms independently Hear behind-the-scenes trivia about the actors and making of the series Highclere admission fee and round-trip transportation included

Read more about Small Group Tour: Downton Abbey and Village Tour of Locations from London

Downton Abbey Village, Blenheim Palace and Cotswolds Day Trip from London

Experience a wealth of England’s rural and historical treasures, and the fictional ‘Downton Abbey’ village, on this full-day trip from London with an expert guide. Marvel at splendid Blenheim Palace, the UNESCO-protected country house where Sir Winston Churchill was born, and discover the enchanting scenery of the Cotswolds, with visits to an idyllic village: either Bibury or Bourton-on-the-Water. Lastly, explore the pretty village of Bampton to see some of the locations where the much-loved TV series, ‘Downton Abbey’, was filmed, and enjoy time for lunch here before returning to London.

Full-day tour to Blenheim Palace, the Cotswolds, and Downton Abbey village from London, led by an expert guide Explore Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Sir William Churchill Revel in the quintessentially English villages and thatched-roof houses of the Cotswolds from the comfort of a luxury coach Visit the charming village of Bibury or Bourton-on-the-Water Enjoy a walking tour of the village of Bampton, featured in Downton Abbey as Downton village Please note a visit to Highclere Castle is not included.

Read more about Downton Abbey Village, Blenheim Palace and Cotswolds Day Trip from London

Perhaps you would enjoy a tour of Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle? You can also visit Kenilworth one of England’s most spectacular castles. There’s also Warwick Castle or any of the castles built by William the Conqueror – the UK has more castles than you can count. What castles have you visited?