Experiences: Highclere Castle

And getting straight on from the Harry Potter Studio Tour, that evening my Mum and Dad arrived and the following day, the Sunday, Mum and I headed out to a castle about an hour drive from London.

It was Highclere Castle, better known to many people as Downton Abbey! This castle is a 'living' castle, in the sense that people still live and work in it (residents as well as servants), and now it is a home, and also has open days, takes tours, serves afternoon tea, has an exhibition, and of course a gift shop! I have been rewatching the series lately and that really helped me to really feel the moments I have seen while exploring the castle.

Even just arriving was delightful. We came up the long driveway (playing the soundtrack, of course) and around a corner just as Highclere came into view. It was gorgeous and took my breath away! The driveway is long and we parked in the carpark before walking onto the grounds proper and up the crunchy gravel driveway. The approach to the castle is exactly the same as in the show, with the main door standing open as we arrived. The only downside was that you can't take any photos inside the castle...

We went pretty much straight to the door as our tour was starting in only a few minutes! They took our coats on entering to hang them until the tour had ended, but then we were straight into the main hall - and straight away Mum and I were oohing and aahing at the location we recognised from the show! In all the rooms they had used for filming they had stands up showing production photos taken during filming, showing the cast and crew and where they had been. I really appreciated this insight into what rooms were used for which episodes.

Once everyone had arrived into the entrance hall, we were split into 3 groups to start our tour. We went first to the Georgian staircase, where we got a brief history of the castle. There had been a building there for hundreds and hundreds of years, and the house had belonged to Lord Porchester (including the Lord Porchester known as 'Porchy' who was friends with the Queen), before being passed on to the second son, who was Lord Canarvon. Different pieces of the castle belonged to different eras going back as far as Georgian times.

We then headed up the stairs and around the landing at the top. This is where we saw many of the bedrooms that had been used in filming. We saw the Mercia Room, which was used as Lady Grantham's room while filming. We also saw Lady Edith and Lady Sybill's rooms, and the room which they carried the body of poor Mr Pamuk into after he died. It was also used by some of the real life royals who had visited and stayed at Highclere. Unfortunately, the main bedroom used in Downton Abbey, Lady Mary's, was not filmed at the castle. Due to the filming schedule of Joanna Froggatt, who played Anna her lady's maid, that bedroom was on a set in London. The same is true of the kitchens (although given they're still used today that's probably a good thing!).

To get downstairs we descended the main staircase in the house, the one which they always walk down in the show. It was created with the steps at the level where you look like you 'float' down the staircase. I emulated Lady Mary on her wedding day by floating down the stairs to Mum and asking her, 'Will I do?' It was quite lovely.

Downstairs, we went into the drawing room, and the library, which I instantly recognised. Funnily enough, the first thing Mum and I both noticed was that the desk the Lord Grantham uses in the show is actually normally on the other side of the room to the show! That was when we learned that actually, about 80% of the set in the show is just Highclere itself - the paintings, the furniture, the writing desks... that was very interesting. Even the silver was from the castle stores! In the library we were also able to stand where Maggie Smith stood, by using the production photos to find the exact right piece of carpet and stand there too. The other room that was a real thrill to see was the dining room - almost everything was in the exact place and you could just imagine Carson the butler coming through the door with the letters on a silver tray.

After our tour, we were taken down to the Egyptian exhibition. One of the Lord Canarvon's had been on the expedition which had found King Tut's tomb in Egypt in the 1920s, and there is an exhibition about the trip, and showing some of the objects which they had found outside of that specific tomb. While I'm sure it was interesting to others, it was not the main reason Mum and I were here and by this time we were actually quite hungry for the next part, which was afternoon tea!

We were then led out to the out buildings, where afternoon tea awaited us. It was gorgeous, mini sandwiches, quiches, scones, cakes and the most delicious soup (curried vegetables) which I am now determined to recreate! We ate as much as we could, before heading out to the grounds for the golden hour to catch as many photos as we could before we lost the light! We got some gorgeous ones, and I even sat on the bench everyone uses on the grounds to contemplate and think.

The last stop was the gift shop, where we got our goody bags. They included a copy of the At Home at Highclere, written by the Countess herself which was signed. We even met the Countess at the shop and she personalised the books for us as well! I also got a lovely tote bag with a drawing of the castle on it and a beautifully smelling candle as well. Then we were headed back for the drive to Wimbledon, with the soundtrack playing all the way home.

Amazing Experience: Wimbledon (again)

On Friday, I got a phone call. I had entered a competition a few weeks back by downloading an HSBC app to my phone. What had I won? Oh, only Centre Court seats at Wimbledon for the Women's Final!!!

So we got all dressed up (because it's guaranteed Centre Court seats on a final day, so who knows how many famous people you might see?), and headed to Wimbledon station all leisurely like around 10:30. There was a special HSBC shuttle (a Jaguar) to drive us over to Gate 9, which is where the entrance to the VIP Village is with all the hospitality chalets (their phrase, not mine) is. We were greeted with Pimms and champagne, which we drank on the deck as we chatted about the day and waited for lunchtime. There were cameras around filming people as they chatted, including us, which was a bit of a strange experience.

Lunch was served at 12pm, and it was amazing! We got to pick which and starter we wanted (Richard and I both had king prawns with mayonnaise and cucumber) which was totally delicious, and then luckily instead of having 7 mains and 4 salads to choose from, we had the main course buffet style! I had some poached salmon, pulled ham hock, kung pao duck and a few savoury tarts as well as bread. Everything was delicious. It was then almost 1pm, and with the men's semi final set to resume at 1, we got our goodie bags (with seat cushion, Wimbledon radio and pockets for snacks) as well as cold water, Pimms and Haagen Daaz and headed to the court.

Our seats were in section 317, which is actually quite close to the Royal Box. We could see Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton and even Emma Watson in the box! We did miss the first point though, so we had to wait until the end of the first three games before we could go to our seats. The tennis was amazing - they both clearly wanted it so much and there was some amazing rallying going on! As I'm sure you know, Djokovic won but it was a close thing and some amazing tennis got played. We were so pleased and feel so lucky to have been able to see that as well as what was to come.

The men finished playing at 3:35, so they announced a half hour delay before the start of the women's. So we returned to the hospitality area for some afternoon tea of little sandwiches, cakes and scones. Then, armed with fresh Pimms and cold water, was returned to our seats. Again we missed the first three games (although 3 games in the ladies is much faster than 3 games in the mens) but it was a very interesting match to watch after the men's. Serena didn't seem to move around very much and barely ran at all- but she didn't look injured, only tired. Kerber had some strange footwork which meant some of her shots she had to crouch to hit because her feet weren't in the right position, and she seemed to be the queen of getting back shots she shouldn't have been able to return! In the end, it was a straight sets win to Kerber for her first Wimbledon win. It was really cool to be able to watch that experience for her.

We stayed to watch the presentation of the awards, then headed back to the hospitality area to pick up our gifts - personalised Championship towels for each of us! A very cool memory and an amazing experience! Definitely once in a lifetime... Although I hope not.

Day Out: Surrey

This weekend just passed, we were invited to a wedding reception in Dorking, so we hired a car for the day and decided to go and explore! We picked up the car at 10am and headed straight down to the beautiful Surrey hills. At this time of year, with the colours of the leaves all out and the roads through the forest, it is an absolutely gorgeous part of the countryside.

Unfortunately, I was not feeling very well straight away, and did spend most of the day feeling quite carsick, but I tried my best to look past this and enjoy the day. We headed first to East Horsley, which wasn't a place with anything in particular, but a useful place to start our exploring. We found a cute little pub with a yummy lunch menu to eat at, then drove through the winding roads to Leith Hill, a tall hill with a Tower on the top. The Leith Hill Tower is a single, freestanding tower which stands alone of the top of the hill. Having climbed it, and standing inside the top (you can't go outside at the top of the Tower) you are higher than the Shard, and can actually see all the way to London! It wasn't a bit affair, but it was a lovely place to take a look.

After Leith Hill Tower, we drove to another hill, up on a route which El Husbando has cycled up in the past to Box Hill. There are may walks around Box Hill, which is a National Trust site, and we checked out the visitor and information centre before we headed most of the way around the hilltop walk. We even managed to watch the very end of the sunset; watching the last sliver of sun actually disappear was really cool - I'd never seen it quite like that before. Afterwards, we did a little more driving before finding a nice pub for dinner, where we had a drink (it was too early for dinner when we'd arrived), watched some rugby, then had dinner.

A quick change in the back of the car later, we were headed to the Manor House that the wedding reception was in. It was a lovely reception, and we managed to arrive just in time for the first dance! There was drinking and dancing, and the bride and her bridesmaids had the loveliest 20s inspired dresses. It was a little awkward though, in that we only knew the groom, and so we spent a lot of our time just talking to each other and listening to the band in our black tie finery. The party continued until midnight, but at around 10pm after cake, we said farewell and drove home to London. We were even in bed by midnight!

Tasty Treats: J. Sheekey

Yesterday, el Husbando and I shared our very first wedding anniversary together! We took the day relatively easy, sleeping in, going out for brunch, catching a movie (Murder on the Orient Express, highly recommend), but we had a nice dinner planned. And it was amazing.

We went to a seafood restaurant near Leicester Square called J. Sheekey. We had looked at a range of restaurants, but the menu here was extensive and also many many things looked delicious.

And the food was incredible. We started with drinks - an apero cocktail for me (which featured prosecco, lime juice, gin, and bitters among a few other things - like a cross between a gin and tonic and a lemon, lime and bitters) and a martini for el Husbando. His martini came with seaweed to enhance the flavour, and it was a really cool taste!

While we waited a little while initially for anything (about 10 minutes), our server was then very apologetic and attentive, and we were very well looked after.

For entree, I ordered prawn, salmon and tune tartare, which had a little cook but was delicious, and el Husbando loved his squid salad. We also split the salmon sashimi, which was phenomenal. Definitely the best sashimi we've had in almost a year (since whenever we last went to our old Sydney local Japanese). It was so melt-in-your-mouth!

For mains, I took the recommendation of the server, and ordered the herb grilled tiger prawns. They were perfectly cooked and again, delicious. I was just a bit sad there were only 4. El Husbando thoroughly enjoyed his grilled octopus, and we shared yummy chips too.

We even still had room for dessert - honeycomb ice-cream with chocolate sauce (el Husbando), and Bramley apple pie with ice-cream and cream. The cream was so thick and delicious, and we even had a glass of Saturnes each, it being a special occasion and all.

The best part? We just walk a half hour home to walk off some of the food, then we're home. What a lovely night.