I saw on PBS a thing, the actual owners of Downton Abby. They have opened a shop, rent it out for weddings,etc to help pay upkeep. A lot of it is in shambles. They even use the owners furniture when shooting,interesting. And gorgeous.
Liked that. The Early is part curator and part estate-manager and gets to work on the property.
That PBS special sugar coated to some extent the situation- especially the family history. It is quite sordid.
I thought it was interesting that they spent nearly 500,000 in today’s dollars on an evening for the future King.
Apparently at least two of the floors of the house are in shambles.
It would take someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber to fix it back up. (or Russian or Saudi money)
He wants the house. He opposes the land development that the owners want to do to try to save their legacy.
Ironically, the woman who helped save Highclere ended up broke. She laundered money, had affairs, spent a lot of money on a court case sorting it out...and was disowned by her son.
Bet we don’t hear that on PBS.