Downton Abbey

I went to Downton Abbey as part of my hen weekend!!  I say 'Downton', what I mean is Highclere Castle near Newbury in Berkshire, which was the home of Lord Canarvon, famous for discovering Tutankhamun's tomb.  The series Downton Abbey films at the house and grounds, making use of three of the bedrooms, and a selection of downstairs rooms, including the dining room and that fabulous hall that looks like it belongs in some Scottish hunting lodge.  Isn't the building impressive?

Photos all by my Mother!  Thank you!

The series is set in 1912 and follows the characters through to the mid 1920s.  I don't own any true vintage from that time period, the oldest piece I have in my wardrobe being this re-worked 1930s dress.  Originally it had long disintegrated lace sleeves and was floor length, but it was in awful condition and I made new sleeves from the hem.  It's very, very fragile still - this is probably the last time I shall wear it.  I would like to make a pattern from it and then perhaps frame it as a work of beauty!  What better setting to give this dress a final outing than the sweeping grounds of Downton Abbey?

Dress: Ebay, reworked by me

Parasol: Souvenir from the Canary Islands

Brogues: J Shoes via TK Maxx

Hairband: Primark

The slightly bemused expressions on most photos are due to my lovely Mother being the photographer for the day.  She got quite into it and was bossing me about in no time, much to the amusement of my sister Louise who was standing watch.  The three of us formed a splinter group from the hen party on the Sunday and we had arrived very early indeed to ensure that we could purchase 'walk-up' tickets, as the pre-booked ones sell out about 6 months in advance.  It was lucky we decided to tackle the photos first, as within an hour the grounds were swarming with tourists.  It's a very, very popular attraction thanks in no small part to Downton Abbey I'm sure, and it became very crowded indeed in the upstairs section of the house.  No time for loitering, and you are not allowed to take photos indoors anyway.

As well as the grounds and house, you can visit an Egyptian exhibition in the basement that details Lord Carnarvon's expedition history and houses a number of fascinating original Ancient Egyptian artefacts (including 4,000 year old eye-liner!).  In the final room there are some mock-ups of the most important finds, as the originals are in the British Museum in Cairo (I actually have been there and seen the original Tutankhamun mask, and they've done an excellent job on the reproductions).

We all had a very enjoyable visit, and we're keen to watch Downton Abbey again so that we can shout 'I've been there!' at various moments throughout the programme.

I'll leave you with a 'before' picture of the dress.

I'm signing off for a while now - this is my last post as an unmarried woman!  I hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks, and I look forward to catching up with you all when I'm back from the wedding and honeymoon.

Linking up with (at some point...): Street Style Sunday, Share in Style, Funday Monday,  Visible Monday, Style Sessions, Reasons to Dress, Random Wednesdays, What I Wore Wednesday, Throw Back Thursdays, Thursday Fashion Files, #WIWT, Passion for Fashion, Friday's Fab Favourites, The Style Files