Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey is filmed
While Downton fans in Great Britain will be able to watch season four on September 22, we in the states will have to wait until January 5, 2014. After the shocking death of Matthew Crawley last season, the good news is that Shirley MacLaine is reprising her role as Martha Levinson. Ten costumes from Downton Abbey are currently on displacy as part of a new exhibition in Bampton, Oxforshire. The exhibition lasts through September. Bampton is frequently used as a setting for locations and was used for the weddings of Lady Mary and Lady Edith which was filmed at St. Mary's Church.
The real Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle is a huge estate, sitting on 1000 acres and is bigger than New York's Central Park. The current Earl of Carnarvon still resides in the house which has been in his family since the 17th century. The house features 50 bedrooms which might seem daunting to some of us, the eighth Countess of Carnarvon, Fiona was quoted in the Daily Telegraph stating, "I suppose if you know how many rooms you've got, you haven't got a very big house." I suspect that she's been admiring The Dowager Countess of Grantham a little too much!
