Do you watch "Downton Abbey" and just dream of sipping tea with the Dowager Countess in the library? Or maybe you'd like to sit down for a grand dinner in the dining room? Or maybe feeding the pigs with Lady Mary is more up to your speed? For some lucky fans of the show, all of this is soon to be a reality.
Auction house Christie's held an auction where fans could bid on 12 "experiences" at Highclere Castle, the real-life English estate where "Downton Abbey" is filmed. These "experiences" include a champagne reception followed by a three-course meal in the dining room, an overnight stay as guests of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon and your very own portrait in front of Highclere Castle. Don't you feel more sophisticated just reading this?
The auction ran from Aug. 1 to Aug. 14 and raised a collective $68,000. The money will go to Heroes at Highclere, which supports various armed forces charities, such as Combat Stress, ABF The Soldiers' Charity and The Royal British Legion.
The top-earning lot was unsurprisingly the overnight stay, which received almost $27,000. If you want the full "Downton Abbey" treatment, this was definitely the way to go. Guests get to sleep in the bedrooms of Lady Sybil, Lady Edith and Lady Cora, which were used during the filming of the first season. However, it's a shame guests don't get a chance to sleep in Lady Mary's bedroom, which we all remember as a rather eventful location during the first season. Although, anywhere Lady Mary goes, drama will follow.
"Downton Abbey" is nominated for 12 categories in this year's upcoming Primetime Emmys. The British costume drama is set to premiere Season 5 some time this fall on ITV in the U.K. and on Jan. 5, 2015 on PBS for us yanks.
Of course, everyone is highly anticipating Season 5 of "Downton Abbey," but some photos released of the new season really drew some attention on the Interwebs recently. A promotional photo for the series shows a water bottle sitting on the mantel over Lady Edith's shoulder, which is a problem because when the season takes place, 1924, plastic water bottles are not in use yet.
There are only two explanations for this: Either there will be some major time traveling in the upcoming season or someone accidentally left a water bottle in the shot and no one noticed before snapping the photo. It was most likely the latter, but it's more fun to come up with conspiracy theories, isn't it? We look forward to hearing the report back from the lucky winners of the auction on this pressing issue.
