Downton Abbey Locations Meal – 23^rd November.

The Omens were not good for this trip!

City & Village made a last minute change to the itinerary, moving the meal from Burford to Witney, to a hotel which did a carvery rather than a served meal. As this was more expensive for C&V, they decided that they could not offer the promised refreshments on arrival, so the Club stepped in to pay for this. On the evening before the event Fowlers had to sub-contract the transport to Dews, as their coach had a damaged windscreen which could not be repaired in time.

The weather on the way to Witney was atrocious, causing several breakdowns and accidents, resulting in the coach being 1hr late in meeting the Blue Badge Guide. She had managed to delay the meal, but only by 3/4hr, so the tour was shortened, and even then was held up by several road repairs/closures – one impromptu diversion led to our 53 seat coach being skilfully driven down a very narrow single track lane with passing spaces, much to the alarm of an oncoming cyclist!

The first filming location was Cogges Manor Farm, which was Yew Tree Farm in Downton Abbey, where we had our refreshments. Unfortunately the farmhouse itself was closed. Undeterred we moved on to the village of Bampton, where we visited the Post Office, Churchgate House, which is used for Isobel Crawley’s home, Church View which houses the fictional pubs The Grantham Arms and The Dog & Duck, and also St. Mary’s Church. There was a small exhibition in “the Post Office” showing how the film crew had transformed that area of the village for filming – one of the most amusing tricks was that they didn’t move the dog-poo bin on the corner, but placed a false post box over it, so the characters’ letters fell into the …….!

The meal at the Windrush Hotel was good, and the Blue Badge Guide kept people occupied with a suitably lubricated Christmas quiz afterwards, until mince pies and coffee were served, and it was time to set off home. It started raining heavily again as we set off, resulting in another slow and difficult trip home. To round the day off, one of our Members discovered that his number plates had been stolen in the Perkins car park.

Not all of our trips go this smoothly!!

Report by Garth Perry.