Although I haven’t even watched Season 6 (my husband has
strict orders to get me the DVD for my upcoming birthday) I’m already in deep,
black-dress-and-veil mourning for the end of the series. And I know I’m one of
millions.
How will we Downton Abbey fans bear it? No more anticipating
watching Lady Mary’s legion of handsome, rich and titled suitors swarming round
her like bees to a honey jar. No more commiserating with Lady Edith, who seems
destined to be swain-free, despite her lissome figure and English,
peaches-and-cream complexion. And no more staring dreamily at Irish hottie Branson,
who remains true to Sybil’s memory (despite having his head temporarily turned
by a certain snarky, socialist schoolmarm) and who’s a devoted daddy to boot.
Happily for us Downtonophiles, a recent article, “A few
cures for ‘Downton Abbey’ withdrawal” (Seattle Times, March 20, 2016, by Beth
J. Harpaz) may help us over the worst Downton downtimes. So if you'd like to revisit Downton...
*Highclere Castle, where most of the series was filmed, has
tours that are open to the public for a couple of months every year. But hurry!
Advance tickets are apparently nearly sold out.
www.highclerecastle.co.uk.
For armchair travelers, you can actually get a Highclere app! Only $2.99.
*Also online is a free map from Wayfair, a UK retailer, www.wayfair.co.uk, that shows over 70
Downton locations, nearly half in London. One spot I think would be super fun
to visit is where Lady Mary and Lord Gillingham went for tea, the Great
Conservatory at Syon Park in Brentford. Then there’s Stride Travel, a review
site. You can find a guide to some Downton locations, including the Horsted
Keynes Railway Station, where many a farewell was made by the Downtown lords
and ladies.
*In this side of the pond, there’s a traveling exhibition of
costumes from the period, which, in the next couple of years, you might find at
a museum near you: Chicago, Cincinnati, Anaheim, CA, Nashville, and St.
Augustine, Florida! www.dressingdownton.com/tour
Still, even with all these opportunities to experience the
show in other guises, it won’t be the same, right? Our love for all things
Downton means it’ll never be the same. But where there’s love, there’s hope (as
Kerry, one of my Village of Ballydara heroines would say). At least in our
imaginations. How might things unfold in the future?
Imagine if Matthew hadn’t gotten killed driving his little
roadster on those narrow deathtraps known as English country roads. His adoration for
Mary might have continued. Or not. Hopefully it would, and they would have at
least two more beautiful blond offspring. She would happily run the estate with
him and occasionally, the two of them could commune with the pigs like she did with
one of her admirers from her early widowhood.
What about Sybil? If she hadn’t died in childbirth, she and
Branson, forever madly in love, might have moved from Downton to Ireland, where
her hunky Irish husband would get into rabble-rousing politics. She could
continue her nursing profession, which would come in handy as they would raise
a houseful of half-Irish revolutionaries who’d come home with cuts and scrapes
from all the “barneys” (Irish expression for fights) they’d get into.
How about Lady Rose? I would have liked to see this Downton
cousin not settle down quite so soon
with Atticus, the conventional young heir to a massive estate. And not kitted out in wifely outfits instead of
the gorgeous frocks she wore before she was married. It have been far more
intriguing if Rose sowed a few more wild oats, hanging out in dance halls and speakeasies with her improper boyfriends.
Which leaves us with Edith. Since I don’t know what happens
to her in Season 6 (no spoilers, please!!) I’m free to imagine the best future
for her. A handsome beau (not to old, like her first boyfriend, and not too
married, then dead, like her next one) who adores her, and who will love little
Marigold like his own. And they’ll live happily ever after on Downton, where
all the servants’ wages will go up and the homefarm will prosper and Robert and
Cora will have more grandchildren than they know what to do with.
So to treasure our memories of Downton Abbey, maybe we can console ourselves with a lovely cup of tea in an elegant china cup. Then, like the
Crawley ladies, we can curl up for a long afternoon nap. Then imagine waking up to a sumptuous five
course dinner, with no dishes to do after! Bliss.
