5 Downton Abbey Filming Locations You Can Actually Visit | Condé Nast Traveler

"Highclere Castle, which in reality is the home of Lord and Lady Carnarvon, is located in Hampshire (a two-hour drive from London) and stars as the namesake estate in the Downton Abbey series and movie. Although it's hard for fans to picture the beloved Crawley family's lives unfolding in any other location, Ellis says the team scoured castles all over the U.K. before going with Highclere. 'At the start, my team traveled all over the country looking at hundreds of different houses,' Ellis says. 'What’s amazing is, Highclere Castle was the first house they ever went to! They then went all over England, but in the end they decided the first was pretty great. How could you not?'"