WEATHER: HOT! Hottest day of the year. Sunny, highs 90+
We travelled about 45 minutes by bus to Witney, a town in the Cotswolds. The visitor center people kindly directed us to the places to visit where they filmed Downton Abbey. ( Highclere Castle is not in this area, and tickets sold out for the summer a long time ago). Our destinations today were places where they filmed village scenes. From Witney, we took a small bus through the countryside another 30 minutes to Bampton, fictitiously named Downton Village in the show.
The bus was filled with elderly ladies who had gone into town for grocery shopping. As we got off the bus in Bampton, one lady approached us and said, "I reckon I know why you are here." (could have been the Downton brochure I was carrying....). She walked us to the buildings where most of the filming took place. She said she had seen many of the actors. She said it was especially fun to watch the old cars. She said the actors and crew were very kind, and that they threw a party for all the neighbors at the end of filming to thank them for allowing them to use Brampton.
First we visited the 10th century church where several scenes were filmed. They renamed it St. Michael and All Angels for the show.
Then, the old rectory that was used for Isobel Crawley's house. 
We walked down the street where a lot of filming took place. They made these houses look like pubs in the show, The Grantham Arms and The Dog and Duck.
This was converted into the hospital for the show, and is now the town's library.
See next post for more pictures.....
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