With Christmas now technically over, the final Downton Abbey festive special is causing a right stir. The Crawleys’ final appearance on our screens was set on New Year’s Eve 1925, and with plenty of heartbreak and happiness, the blockbuster was the talk of the Christmas TV Schedule this year.
We were keen to explore how much we’d be forking out each year to live in and maintain the real Downton Abbey – Highclere Castle – where the drama is filmed.
Highclere Castle is worth an estimated total of £72m, including grounds, and has over 300 rooms, 60 of which are bedrooms and are currently maintained by a staff of 70. The Victorian castle is built on 1,000 acres of parkland, so you can imagine the maintenance takes quite a bit of organisation and doesn’t come cheap.
| Maintenance Type | Cost |
| Energy Costs (Gas, Electric and Oil) | £85,000+ |
| Water | £3,800(Based 32 live in characters on Downton Abbey and not including costs of garden maintenance) |
| Staff | £383,400 |
| Maintenance | £65,000 |
| Security | £16,000 (For a modern CCTV system and a fitted home alarm) |
| Garden | £115,000 |
| Total | £668,200 |
If you had your own Downton Abbey, you would need contents insurance and an expensive security system to ensure all your assets were protected.
Having emptied a casual £72m from your wallet you would need a further £668,200 minimum every year to run and maintain your very own Downton Abbey. Unfortunately, this is unrealistic for most of us so we will have to continue to live out this lavish festive fantasies vicariously through the Crawleys, if only for one more episode.