Sunday Blatherings

The Countess of Carnarvon. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey
27 December 2011, Broadway

Admittedly, I have jumped on the Downton Abbey bandwagon.  I adore BBC shows, mainly because actors and actresses look like real people-- they aren't all plastic, gorgeous twenty year olds.This book will keep you going for a bit if you are similarly addicted, and of course reading things like A Room with a View is always good, but if you need some videos to get through the last throes of winter, here are some good ones, along with the 2003  The Manor House, which was a sort of reality/survival show with people taking on the role of the family or the servants.



If you like the time period and costumes, pick up The House of Elliot. For the political intrigue and lifestyle, go for The Duchess of Duke Street. If you would like to live in a manor house in the 1970s, go with To the Manor Born. Follow that up with Good Neighbors, because you ALWAYS need more Penelope Keith. For good measure, throw in a modern day estate in Scotland with Monarch of the Glen, and finish up with Ballykissangel, which is ridiculously addictive and the reason why I learned to do a rolling dismount on my bicycle. Yep, when I get off my bike in the morning at school, I'm really hopping off of it in front of the village store. Sigh.