Last weekend, my folks and a couple of friends and I all piled into a car to head to Highclere Castle, home of Downton Abbey! I actually live just 40 minutes up the road from the location, but it’s so hard to get tickets – we actually booked ours in February. It’s been a loooong wait.

When we got there, it was drizzling, and surrounded by mist – which was very atmospheric, but not very good for photos. Unless you wanted photos of atmospheric drizzle…

The neat little folly was called Jackdaws Castle – basically designed to look nice from the castle rather than do anything – it didn’t even have a roof! I didn’t remember it from the show, but my friend recognised it from a scene with Lady Edith and a certain imposter who turned up as a patient at the Abbey during the war…

Unfortunately, photography is banned inside the castle, so I don’t have any pictures of Countess Grantham’s bedroom or the lovely foyer, but we did have a trip around the gardens I can share with you – by the time finished touring the house and the excellent Egyptian exhibit, it had definitely brightened up!

I definitely recommend going if you’re a fan of the show – for one thing, it’s really neat to see how it all fits together in real life. And who could resist having their photo snapped at Downton Abbey? Not me, that’s for sure!

Kitten Cateye sunglasses, ASOS / Blue jumper, Hush / Dog friendship bracelet, Mulberry / Black and copper friendship bracelet, Links of London / Rose gold cherry blossom sweater necklace, C/O Maqaroon

Tickets for Highclere Castle can be purchased in advance from the website here. The summer season is currently sold out, although tickets may be available on the day subject to capacity – best time to try your luck is 2pm. £18 gets you an adult ticket to see the grounds, the Egyptian exhibit, and the castle interior. Tickets for just the grounds are also available at a cheaper price.

If you’d like to see any of my photos in more detail, check out my Flickr set here!