Tours of Downtown Abbey castle

Culture Posted on 08/06/2012

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The last season of the hit series, Downton Abbey, has recently come to an end as expectant fans wait with baithed breath until September, when the next season begins. However, if the withdrawal symptoms start getting too much to handle, worry not, for die-hard fans can now visit the location where the series is filmed.

Located in Newbury, close to Basingstoke and Reading, stands Highclere Castle, which has been the setting for the myriad scandals of the show since it first took the UK by storm in September 2010.

This summer, like every summer, the owners of the castle open their doors and grounds to the public. Visitors can explore many of the rooms used in the series, including the smoking room, the wall-length Van Dyck painting in the drawing room where Dame Maggie Smith has delivered one withering look after another in her role as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, and the grounds where characters have strolled casually along so that the rest of the family can't tell they are arguing.

Admission: £16 (adults). Open Sundays-Thursdays from 1 July to 13 September.

For your Newbury hotel, search with Easyvoyage.

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In brief : Culture