What it’s really like to live in a house like Downton Abbey

The numbers could be as shocking as the storms. Heating the nursery wing once meant heating the entire castle, and one year the bills reached £80,000. It took years of persuasion before trustees agreed to invest £250,000 in a biomass system. The wiring, she wrote, was ‘positively dangerous’, the plumbing unsanitary, and roof repair quotes swung wildly from £6,000 to £150,000. Survival, she concluded, depended on more than family determination: volunteers and local communities became vital, restoring water-damaged books, tending gardens and even caring for hawks brought in to deter pigeons.

Julie Montagu has faced similar realities at Mapperton in Dorset, the Tudor and Restoration house she shares with her husband Luke, 12th Earl of Sandwich. It is at once a family home, a visitor attraction and a working estate, which is not an uncommon setup for those who might otherwise struggle with the cost of upkeep – opening the house to the public for a portion of the year can mean relief from inheritance tax and capital gains tax. ‘Because of period dramas – Downton Abbey in particular, but also The Gilded Age and The Buccaneers – people still imagine it’s glamorous, full of grandeur and constant parties,’ she explains. ‘That’s definitely not our reality, and I’d say it isn’t for most other stately-home owners either. For houses that are open to the public it’s very much a business. You’re living in your home, but at the same time it’s open to visitors every day. It’s constant work and constant maintenance.’

A dramatic winter view of Mapperton, the historic sandstone house set above Italianate terraces with topiary, a central pool, and stone pergolas and statuary.

Andrew Montgomery

That can mean dealing with very practical problems. ‘We’ve had leaks in the past where the reservoir emptied and we had no water – it was a nightmare,’ Julie recalls. Even repairing a single window must be done like-for-like, which makes it far from inexpensive. ‘It’s a huge privilege, of course, but it’s not effortless at all.’

For Julie, the enchantment of living in a grand country house lies in quiet corners where history is preserved. ‘We don’t have an archivist or a curator, so I fill that role,’ she explains. She recently uncovered a cache of more than 10,000 letters written by her husband’s great-grandmother, Alberta, who lived in the late Victorian period and, like her, was American. ‘Reading them is like travelling through time, as if I’m in conversation with her.'

But enchantment alone doesn’t keep a country house alive. These places endure only through a constant negotiation between past and present, private life and public access – a balance that requires continuous and collective effort, as Julie explains. ‘As soon as the public areas close, we can use them again privately. But even in the off-season, it remains a working space. We have around forty wonderful volunteers, and together we prepare for the next year. We polish the oak panelling, dust the bookshelves in the library, so it is ready for the season ahead.’

Gilt sconces by William Kent line the walls of the Ballroom at Knole, once casting their flickering light over dancers performing minuets.

And surviving today often requires more than beautiful rooms and centuries of tradition, especially for houses far from the main tourist routes, like Mapperton. Julie turned to YouTube to show the human side of keeping history alive. ‘It’s allowed us to reach people who might never set foot here, and to keep the house relevant in a very different age,’ she says of the videos she creates with her husband Luke, Earl of Sandwich, which document the upkeep and history of the house.

Highclere Castle in Hampshire is instantly recognisable as the setting for Downton Abbey, yet Lady Carnarvon, whose recent book is A Year at Highclere: Secrets and Stories from the Real Downton Abbey, is quick to stress how different life there really is. ‘Possibly how many steps we all do in a day,’ she says, noting that parts of the castle are 1,300 years old and that its scale turns even simple errands into a trek, ‘and I think people may not realise we have nine miles of road to maintain… plus ditches to keep clear!’

The greater challenge, she adds, is balancing heritage with family. ‘In order to create a revenue stream, we need to plan ahead and look with honesty at money in and money out. I am a working mother, wife and eldest sister to my beloved five younger ones! It is simply a muddle and imperfect, but it is about communicating and asking forgiveness. However during school years, all the holiday dates, sport days, parents’ evenings, school plays have taken priority. I still try to juggle and it is not easy.’

Highclere Castle in Hampshire, long home to the Earls of Carnarvon and known worldwide as the setting for Downton Abbey.

NIKLAS HALLE'N/Getty Images

Eleanor Doughty, author of Heirs and Graces: A History of the Modern British Aristocracy, sees their appeal in mystery. ‘It’s natural to be curious about things that are hidden behind large walls or gates. The country house has a mystique of its own – part of it comes from a fascination with how the world used to be, and part comes from the idea that somehow it is still faintly aspirational to own and run a big house. The reality is quite the opposite, in most cases, but the romantic myths and legends of the very big house in the country remain alive and kicking.’

An intimate corner of Bywell Hall, where Grinling Gibbons carvings frame a portrait of the Marquess of Rockingham at Wentworth Woodhouse by Mercier. On the chest of drawers sits the Bywell Bull, taken from the family’s garter banner and emblem.

Tom Griffiths

Perhaps that is why Downton Abbey still casts a spell: we know about the leaks and the bills, yet we are drawn to the glow of candlelight and the promise of grandeur within. To keep dreaming, explore some of the finest country houses featured in House & Garden – proof that the magic endures well beyond the screen.