I hate when I find Carson sweet, but when he talks about Mary as a kid it's so cute, sometimes I think I might not be a complete hater

Downton Abbey Filming Locations

This is somewhat complete list of the DA filming locations from S1-6. Some of this information comes from the various companion books (or was later confirmed by them), and some is from the info we got via social media as they were filming it.

Hoping that the cut/read more/’Keeping Reading” works on mobile, because this is a long list! 

Appearing in multiple series:

- Highclere Castle: Downton Abbey + the courtyard, the stables, cottages exteriors (including the Bateses'), cricket pitch  - Ealing Studios in London: servants' hall, kitchen, etc.; various interiors - Bampton, Oxfordshire: Downton village exterior shots. The Grantham Arms, Duck and Dog, Mrs Patmore's B&B exterior - Church Gate House, Bampton: Crawley House (exterior) - Hall Place, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire: Crawley House (interior) - Ham House in Surrey: Crawley House (kitchen) - Bampton Library: Downton Cottage Hospital (exterior but also interior in S6) - St. Mary's, Bampton: St. Michael's and Downton church cemetery - Byfleet Manor: Dower House - Horsted-Keynes Station, owned by the Blueway Railway in Sussex: Downton Station [used in A LOT of other period dramas] - West Wycombe Park: Rosamund's house interior 

First Appearing in Series 1

- St. James Park, London (playing itself in S1E7, S5E8) - Royal Hospital Chelsea: Duke of York Barracks (S1E7)

First Appearing in Series 2

- Akenham, Suffolk, reenactment fields owned by Taff Gillingham: Battle scenes in France - Old Forge, Shilton: The Red Lion (S2E3) - Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, Aylesbury: Haxby Park (S2E6) - The Swan Inn, Swinbrook: The inn where Tom and Sybil went (S2E7) - Crown Court, Surrey County Hall, Surrey: York Courthouse (S2CS, S6E5) - Stocker's Farm House, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire: Mr Mason's farm (before moving to Yew Tree) (interior) - Colstrope Farm, Buckinghamshire: Mr Mason's farm (before moving to Yew Tree (exterior) - Hall Barn, Buckinghampshire: Loxley

First Appearing in Series 3

- Lincoln Castle, Lincoln, Lincolnshire: York Prison (S3 prison scenes) - Grey's Court, Rotherfield Greys, Henley-on-Thames: Eryholme a.k.a. Downton Place (S3E3) - Rules Restaurant, Covent Garden (played itself in S3E7, S5E8, S6E3) - Inveraray Castle, Argyll: Duneagle Castle and estate (S3CS) - Wrotham Park: a few interiors in Duneagle Castle [the room Anna practices in, the billiards room] (S3CS)

First Appearing in Series 4

- St. Pancras Station (S4E1) - Cogges Manor Farm (a living history museum depicting rural life in Oxfordshire): Farmland, Yew Tree Farm (S4-S6) - Criterion Restaurant, Piccadilly (played itself in S4E1; S6E6) - Cheptow Villas: Gregson's flat (S4; in S6 they were at Ealing) - Lincoln Inn Fields: Outdoor London Scenes (S4) - The Tarred Yarn Store, Historic Docks, Chatham, Kent: The workhouse were Mrs Hughes finds Grigg (S4E1) - Historic Docks, Chatham, Kent: Outdoor York scene and exterior of dance hall (S4E2) - Hoxton Hall, Hackney, London: interior of dance hall in York (S4E2) - The Savile Club, Mayfair, London: The Lotus Club (S4E4) - The Langdon Down Museum: Kitchen of the Ritz (S4E5)  - York House, Twickenham: Interior of the Netherby Hotel and Restaurant, Thirsk (S4E6) - Hambledon Farm: The pig barn on the Downton estate (S4E7) - Syon House, the London home of the Duke of Northumberland: Restaurant (S4E8) - Cleveland Row, London: Grantham House (exterior) (S4CS, S5E8) - Basildon Park, Berkshire: Grantham House (interior) (S4CS, S5E8); Hyde Park (S4CS) - Royal Holloway: Gallery was used for art gallery with the Summer Exhibition (S4CS) - Embassy Night Club: playing itself (S4CS) - Lancaster House: Buckingham Palace (S4CS) - Goldsmith's College: Buckingham Palace (S4CS; I think the reception part?) - Kensington Gardens: the picnic at Albert Memorial (S4CS) - West Wittering Beach, Sussex: Brighton Beach (S4CS)

First Appearing in Series 5

- Burghclere: Schoolhouse (S5, S6) - Kingston Bagerprize House, Vale of the White Horse, Wiltshire: Cavenham Park (Lord Merton's house) (S5E2, S6) - Corinthia Hotel London: Grand Hotel in Liverpool (S5E2,3) - National Gallery in London (playing itself in S5E3) - The Strand Palace Hotel, London (or the above is the Strand area of London): Tony's apartment in Albany (S5E4) - Peter Pan statue at Kensington Gardens: Playing itself (S5E4) - St. Marylebone Parish Church, London: St. Mary Magdelene's in York (S5E5) - Simpson's-in-the-Strand: Restaurant playing itself (S5E5) - 2 Temple Place: Craxton Hall Registry Office (S5E8) - Alnwick Castle, Northumblerand (and Hulne Park, the surrounding land): An exterior shot was used for the exterior of the women's prison in York (S5CS); Exterior and interior used for Brancaster Castle, the grounds as well (S5CS); shops in Thirsk (S6E8) - St. Mary's, Charlbury (in the Cotswolds): The area near where Carson and Mrs Hughes look at houses (S5CS) - The Duchess High School, Bailiffgate, Northumberland: The Crown and Anchor pub in York (S5CS)

First Appearing in Series 6

- Ditchley Park near Charlbury, in Oxfordshire: Mallerton House (S6E1) - Lincoln Inn Fields, in near Wildy & Sons bookshop: Exterior of The Sketch offices (S6, S6E3 in particular) - Lacock, Wiltshire: Malton Market (S6E2) - Royal Automobile Club: I believe playing itself (S6E4) - Hampton Court Palace: Playing itself, basically, or just as a park (S6E5) - Thorney Island, Chichester: Catterick (S6E5, where they were testing cars) - Brooklands Museum: Brooklands Race Track, crowd scenes, the stands, and starting area, anything with signage (S6E7) - Goodwood Racerway: Brooklands Race Track; the main track the race happens on, and the crash site (S6E7) - Beamish Transport Museum: Talbot & Branson Motors

Hey Downton fans, check out the new movie My Cousin Rachel. This is an absolutely first rate film with a timeless cautionary tale I know you will love. It looks great on the big screen too. Movies like this don’t make much money these days, so support them if you can.

It starts out like a mystery, about a young man who suspects a woman murdered her husband but falls for her. Minor spoiler: this was a book written by a woman about how men are terrible at judging women and the harm they cause when they think they’re being a nice guy.

Also Iain Glen is in it. It’s also pretty hot. There was a lot of giggling from the old ladies setting behind me.

Chapter 4, featuring my first and most enduring Downon love.....

The livery. <3 <3

thommy outlander au where a modern jimmy gets thrown back into the 1920s. after forging a reference, he is hired at downon abbey as a footman.

he plays modern songs on the piano, can’t figure out candlestick phones, and wishes the hot valet would just cut it out with the touching. doesn’t that guy know they can go to prison?

Anna May Bates 🌺

I guess I’m just done with this series for good. The ‘gay representation’ shipwreck keeps getting creepier and creepier the more I read about it. 

mary in every episode:

2x02 “Well, there you are then. One day you'll meet someone else and you'll marry. Perhaps it'll be second best, but it doesn't mean you can't have a life.“

Reviews of THE PROPOSAL

1)  " Best scene: Confess. Your eyes were more than a little damp by the time Carson got around to proposing to Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan). It’s a well-written and superbly played moment, years in coming. And don’t you love the vulnerability that wells out of Carson as he awaits his love’s reply? I was figuring Mrs. H would put things off for another two or three seasons, but out she comes with “Of course I’ll marry you, you old booby.” We’ll assume she’s alluding to the adorable seabird, and we’ll cross fingers that Baron Fellowes actually lets them kiss before too much longer. "  (X)

2)  " It’s a busy episode indeed in which Carson and Mrs. Hughes becoming engaged can end up a stray observation! Their fleeting hand-holding and passing intimations blossomed into the felicity of a future marriage between equals. I feared her hesitation to buy a house with him sprang from worry that Carson, through long habit, would would take charge of their shared property just as he does of Downton Abbey. The money troubles both illuminate her private life and allow Carson to be generous—and I suspect Mrs. Hughes will be more than a match for his runaway authority in married life."  (X)

3)  "And it looks like he may get his wish! After plying Mrs. Hughes with wine – a Margaux, approximately $100 if anyone fancies wooing their sweetie or sending some to the Indiewire offices – Mr. Carson whips out his portfolio. Given that they're supposed to be running a bed and breakfast, a three bedroom property seems a little on the small side – unless he's proposing they bunk in together... Which, of course, he is. Thank god. We're denied a kiss, but Carson does cry and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. His tears are like tiny crystal drops of happiness, and if you listen carefully you can hear angels applauding with joy."  (X)  

4)  " But then again, we need something to look forward to in Season 6, and what better event than the impending marriage of Mr. Charles Carson to stalwart Downton housekeeper Mrs. Elsie Hughes (Phyllis Logan)? It was up there with some of the most non-romantic proposals in “Downton” history (I’m looking at you, Lord Merton –Douglas Reith), but for all of us Carson-Mrs. Hughes ‘shippers out there who have been waiting for this ever since these two dipped their toes in the ocean last season, we can forgive the lack of outward affection. Still, watching Mrs. Hughes touch her new fiancé’s arm while Carson visibly teared up with joy was way more titillating than any weekend tryst between Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Tony Gillingham. And if this means more instances of Mrs. Hughes referring to Carson as “you old booby,” then I’m all in. " (X)

5)  But my commitment to Crawley family fury has been rendered futile by the satisfying moments in this year’s Christmas episode (that’s the season five finale to us PBS-watching Yanks), especially this totally satisfying, amazing thing: Carson and Mrs. Hughes are getting married! Never mind that they’ve never gone on a proper date, let alone kissed, let alone referred to each other by their first names on any kind of regular basis. (Question: Do they even know each other’s first names?) Nevertheless, we’ve all been well aware for multiple seasons that their passion for each other simmers, hot and bubbly, beneath the starched tuxedo shirts and de-sexualizing black dresses they respectively wear while overseeing Downton business. Now their feelings can finally be acknowledged and celebrated. At the risk of getting overexcited and offending Carson’s sense of propriety: Hu-fucking-ZAH!There were so many things I loved about the moment when they got engaged, a moment born out of Mrs. Hughes’s confession that she couldn’t buy a house with Carson because, apparently, she’s been secretly taking care of a mentally challenged sister named Becky for her entire life. (Really? This never came up before?) That revelation forces Carson to reflect on a future without his partner in Downton decisions, a prospect apparently too depressing for him to handle. It’s proposal time.I loved how alternately pathetic and polite Carson’s attempt to ask for Mrs. Hughes’s hand was. After she says she can’t possibly be hearing him correctly, he says, “You are if you think I’m asking you to marry me,” then squeaks out a,” well?” and follows up with the real clincher, the words every woman longs to hear: “You’re not offended?” Then he tells Mrs. Hughes to take as long as she likes to give him an answer, because apparently there’s never any urgency to marriage proposals on this show. But Mrs. Hughes doesn’t make him wait, uttering those eight words that have defined true love since the beginning of time: “Of course I’ll marry you, you old booby!”No rings are exchanged and they don’t even kiss or hug. But Carson — such a stickler for etiquette that he will probably ask Mrs. Hughes to consummate their marriage by writing a formal letter and having it properly notarized — actually starts crying a little. That basically killed me. Between their bliss and the sight of Robert blasted off his ass on Christmas Eve (Drunk Donk!), suddenly all the warmth toward Downton Abbey that had cooled during Mr. Vyner’s 800th pointless police interrogation came flooding back, along with renewed affection for these characters. (X)

6)  "But let’s start with the only thing that really matters: Carson and Mrs. Hughes got engaged! And while I’m obviously over the damn moon about it, I have to admit I was surprised to see their relationship progress so quickly over the past few weeks. Remember how long it took them just to hold hands at the beach last season? (Not that it wasn’t still a super-hot moment, because it was.)The only thing more fantastic than the engagement itself was the banter between Carson and Mrs. Hughes, beginning with him — while discussing their new joint venture — telling her, “I do want to be stuck with you,” which might be the least robotic thing he’s ever said. And then there was her response: “Of course I’ll marry you, you old booby. I thought you’d never ask!” Perfect, just perfect." (X)

7)  "Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes Yes! While Anna and Bates were off being miserable, these two moved into the position of Downton's downstairs darlings. As was first hinted in the Season 4 finale when they held hands at the beach, their congenial but complex work relationship blossomed into a personal relationship this season when, under the guise of securing a retirement situation by purchasing a bed and breakfast that Mrs. Hughes couldn't afford, Mr. Carson then asked her to marry him. The proposal was as stuffy and unvarnished as one would expect from Carson, which made the moment even more perfect. We can't wait to see him struggle with being lovey-dovey while also maintaining the proper demeanor next year." (X)

8)  This is the Only Storyline I Care About. So, Carson spends most of this episode bringing Mrs. Hughes various forms of wine, clearly as an excuse to hang out with her more. It’s an obvious ploy, but not a bad one, and it’s all super cute and wonderful and I’m very busy making a wide variety of squealing noises.However, when Carson decides they should put an offer in on one of the houses they looked at, his enthusiasm over the situation prompts Mrs. Hughes to make a confession. She says she has to tell Carson the truth – and that’s that she can’t buy property with him, because she’s completely broke. She confesses that she has a sister named Becky, who isn’t “quite right in the head” and isn’t capable of taking care of herself. Therefore Mrs. Hughes spends – and has spent and will spend – all of her money on paying for her care and doesn’t actually have any savings to invest in real estate schemes with Carson. Mrs. Hughes further confesses that she’s a pauper, pretty much, and has no savings, and will pretty much have to work for as long as anyone will possibly let her – therefore, she’s got no need of a “retirement house”.  The look on Carson’s face after all of this is devastating – Jim Carterdeserves an award just for this moment basically – as Mrs. Hughes says there’s no place for her in his real estate project.Carson tries to apologize for pushing Mrs. Hughes about the house plan and being insensitive and she tries to apologize some more for not telling him the truth straight away and it’s a total mess and now would be the time for one of them to admit they’re ridiculously in love with each other but this show actually hates me because that’s the exactly moment stupid Mr. Bates walks in with some telegram about Anna. Argh.  OMG, ALL MY DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE.  Carson interrupts Mrs. Hughes while she’s wrapping Christmas presents and offhandedly tells her that he want ahead and bought that cottage they looked at together anyway. Mrs. Hughes smiles and makes small talk about it and it’s almost all back to normal again after her earlier confession. HOWEVER, at the big ol Crawley Christmas party, Carson says he has something he needs to talk to her about and they sneak off to have a chat.And what he wants to talk to her about is PROPOSING, because all of our dreams are coming true. (Here is a live look into my house, basically.) He tells her he registered the dumb plot point rental property in both their names, because he wants to be stuck with her forever and it’s perfect and I may have screamed out loud, don’t tell anyone because it was pretty darn embarrassing. But I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment since the stupid show started, way longer than for Mary and Matthew or anyone else and of course Mrs. Hughes says yes and it’s everything. Dear Julian Fellowes if you actually have their wedding happen offscreen     during the hiatus I will RIOT. (X)

9)  Yet there I was, in the final minutes of Downton Abbey Season Five’s final episode (which aired as the annual standalone Christmas Special in the UK), hooting and hollering and pumping my fists in the air. Why? Because after half a decade of simmering sexual tension — hey, just calling it like I see it — the imperious butler, Carson, finally softened up enough to pop the question to the kindly head of housekeeping, Mrs. Hughes. I yelled “WHAAAAAAAAAAAT???” at an unseemly volume, and my slackjawed grin was wide enough to comfortably store a gramophone. It was a moment of pure, unmitigated delight — the kind that can’t be produced without years of painstaking character work bent on depicting these two crazy kids as thoughtful, goodhearted, lonely people who’ve quietly come to care about and count upon each other more than anyone else in the world. In short, it was fantastic television, and I’m grateful to have witnessed it.  (X)

Whilst I do think Thomas got into the fight at the fair to protect Jimmy because of certain *feelings* I do truly think he would have done the same for anyone else

I mean he put himself at risk to save Edith, a woman who If we're being honest hardly even acknowledged his existence, during the fire. So why would he do the same for everyone else

Stop showing the gay Thomas, you'll only get in trouble

people hating on thomas

can you not

Downton Abbey, Final Season: Bad Blood

I feel like Mary and Anna's friendship is falling apart and I hate it I HATE IT I HATE IT