Highclere Castle

 castle, movie / film / TV location, Grade I Listed (UK)

Highclere Castle is a country house in the Jacobethan style, with a park designed by Capability Brown. The 5,000-acre (2,000 ha) estate is in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Newbury, Berkshire. It is the country seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, a branch of the Anglo-Welsh Herbert family.

Highclere Castle is the main filming location for the British television period drama Downton Abbey. The Castle and gardens are open to the public during July and August and at times during the rest of the year.

The castle stands on the site of an earlier house, which was built on the foundations of the medieval palace of the Bishops of Winchester, who owned this estate from the 8th century. The original site was recorded in the Domesday Book. Since 1679, the castle has been home to the Earls of Carnarvon.

Use as location
1982: It was seen as the home of a wealthy Englishman that Mr. Fortescue visited seeking money in the 1982 film starring Michael Palin, The Missionary. The castle exterior appears about 19 minutes and 30 seconds into the film.

1987: Shots from both the interior and exterior were used as the imposing Mistlethwaite Manor in the Hallmark Hall of Fame's 1987 version of The Secret Garden.

1990–1993: Totleigh Towers, in the TV version of Jeeves and Wooster, was represented by Highclere Castle.

1991: The exterior appeared as Lord Graves's house in the film King Ralph.

1992: It was portrayed as the home of the 23rd Earl of Leete in Jim Broadbent and Mike Leigh's 1992 mock biopic A Sense of History.

1999: The salon provided a main interior location for Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut.

2001: The exterior appeared as the Raichand mansion in the Bollywood blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

2002: The saloon appeared in the film The Four Feathers starring Heath Ledger.

2006: John Legend's 2006 music video for "Heaven Only Knows" features the castle.

2010: The Temple of Diana featured in the movie Pride and Prejudice.

2010–present: It is the main setting for the British television period drama Downton Abbey, as a result of which The Tatler referred to the area around Highclere as "Downtonia".