The Real Downton Abbey
Season two of the BBC series, Downton Abbey, debuts on PBS this Sunday. In addition to the companion book, The World of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes, (Macmillan/ St. Martin’s,12/06; more on it here), fans can read about Highclere Castle, the setting for the series in Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (more about it in the Daily Beast).
Take a tour of the castle, below (if this whets your appetite, more videos are available on YouTube).
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For a look at how the other half lived, there’s a reissue of Below Stairs by Margaret Powell. James Fellows, the creator of Downton Abbey blurbs the new edition, saying,
Margaret Powell was the first person outside my family to introduce me to that world, so near and yet seemingly so far away, where servants and their employers would live their vividly different lives under one roof. Her memories, funny and poignant, angry and charming, haunted me until, many years later, I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera. I certainly owe her a great debt.
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