Highclere Castle is located in Hampshire, England and has been owned by the Carnarvon family since 1679. In 2010, the castle was used as the primary filming location for Downton Abbey, a historical drama television series about the fictional Crawley family. Both the interior and exterior of the castle were featured extensively in the show. The series was hugely successful and put Highclere Castle on the global map. It is now open to the public for tours of the interior and grounds.

1. YOU ARE STANDING IN THE
PLACE WHERE…
HIGHCLERE CASTLE
English File third edition Intermediate Student’s
Book Unit 6A, pp.54–55

2.  Shot on location = filmed in a real place, not in a
studio.
 Where is the film set? = In which country does the
action take place?
Write down the name of the countries:
 Lost in Translation
 The mask of Zorro
 the Harry Potter films
 Braveheart
 the Spider-man films
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
 The Lord of the Rings

3.  Lost In Translation (Japan)
 The Mask Of Zorro (Mexico)
 The Harry Potter Films (England)
 Braveheart (Scotland)
 The Spider-man Films (USA)
 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sweden)
 The Lord Of The Rings (New Zealand)

4. HIGHCLERE CASTLE

5. REMEMBER THE WORDS:
 earl
 countess
 real-life event
 currently
 realize
 fictional
 huge success
 interior
 exterior
 shoot (shot, shot)
 wounded
 Easter
 tomb
 set
 respectable
 transform
 allow
 scenes
 contain
 servants

6. COMPLETE THE GAPS:
 Set fictional exterior currently shoot respectable
realized
1. The novel is … in London in the 1960s.
2. He came from a perfectly … middle-class
family.
3. The Earl … lives in the castle.
4. The … of the building was a masterpiece
of architecture.
5. All the characters in the novel are … .
6. He … his mistake at once.
7. She has just been commissioned to … a
video.

7. REMEMBER THE WORDS TO THE
DEFINITIONS
 the wife or widow of a count or earl
 regarded by society to be good, proper, or correct
 of smb or smth that occurs only in stories, plays,
or films and never actually existed or happened
 a large grave that is above ground and that
usually has a sculpture or other decoration on it
 become fully aware of (something) as a fact;
understand clearly
 the outside parts of something or things that are
outside something

8. ANSWERS
 Countess
 Respectable
 Fictional
 Tomb
 Realize
 Exterior

17. The castle has been owned by the Carnarvon family
since 1679, and _____1 and ____2 Carnarvon ____3
live there. In 2010, film director Julian Fellowes, a close
friend of the family, was planning a new TV series
about an aristocratic family and their ___ 4 during the
early 20th century. While he was staying at Highclere
Castle, he ____5 that it would be the perfect place to set
his historical drama, and the castle was transformed
into Downton Abbey, the home of the ____6 Crawley
family. The series was a ____ ___ 7 and it has been sold
all over the world. Both the ____8 and _____9 scenes
were ____ 10 in and around the castle itself.
HIGHCLERE CASTLE

18. ANSWERS
1. Earl
2. Countess
3. Currently
4. Servants
5. Realized
6. Fictional
7. Huge success
8. Interior
9. Exterior
10. Shot
11. Real-life event
12. Wounded

19. In the second TV series the castle is used as a hospital
during the First World War. These scenes are based on
a ___ ___ 11. In 1914, Lady Almina Carnarvon allowed
soldiers who had been ___12 to be looked after in the
castle.
OPEN THE BRACKETS
Go there
Highclere Castle and gardens (to be open) to the public
during the Easter and summer holidays, and on many
Sundays and public holidays from 10.30 a.m. to 6.00
p.m. Visit the Egyptian Gallery which (to contain) many
objects (to bring) back from his travels by Lady Almina’s
husband, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who famously (to
discover) the tomb of the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
www.highclerecastle.co.uk

20. WATCH THE VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR9bpM1agZI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1race8opks