Lady Carnarvon’s love of history is richly rewarded at Highclere Castle with its mine of family records going back some 300 years. She has delved into the archives to create a book that invites you inside the Castle, past and present. Throughout the centuries, Highclere has welcomed Royalty, Statesmen, Egyptologists and pioneers of technology along with men and women from the worlds of music, art and letters. The etiquette of the invitation, the balance of guests at a weekend house party, their ‘placement’ at dinners, and the entertainment of friends, as well as the domestic management required to execute the perfect occasion, have all preoccupied successive generations of châtelaines. This book tells the story four real life weekends - from 1866 to 1936 - when the great and the good gathered at Highclere to change the world in some large or small part. It then reflects on how the current Countess entertains 'At Home' at Highclere today.
Each weekend showcases the life of the house, both upstairs with the rich and famous and below stairs with the staff and employees. You are transported to a world where guests were collected from the long since defunct Highclere Station in carriages or later in the earliest cars having had the train stop specifically for them and where the allocation of the most prestigious bedrooms really did matter. It looks at what should be served for dinner, the hot topics of conversation and gossip, traditional breakfasts and shooting parties with the Prince of Wales. She explores how menus were, and still are now, put together with the chef, what were the de rigueur cocktails of the day (and why) – and how to make them at home wherever you are. Each chapter will explore some of the recipes and, where practical, have adaptations and photos of the recipes which can be cooked in today’s kitchens. Many recipes are little-changed to this day and Lady Carnarvon shares her commentary on their context at Highclere.
‘Highclere works hard to steer a steady course in today’s world, but the Castle was built for entertainment and pleasure, for convivial weekends. I hope this book gives a glimpse inside a great house, with mouth-watering recipes, eye-catching photographs and fascinating stories about some of the remarkable people who have stayed here.’ Lady Carnarvon
Note: This is the Goodreads listing for the 8th Countess of Carnarvon.
A former auditor for Coopers & Lybrand, Lady Carnarvon is the wife of George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. Today, she manages affairs at Highclere Castle, home of the worldwide television drama Downton Abbey, including overseeing its grounds and gardens and many special events such as the Egyptian Exhibition in the cellars of the Castle.
Fascinated by Highclere’s history, Lady Carnarvon has written four books. The first two are about the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb with Howard Carter in 1922. Her latest are New York Times Bestseller Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere, and Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey.
As someone who is finally watching Downton Abbey and finding herself totally addicted after one episode, I greatly looked forward to reading this book about Highclere, the castle upon which Downton Abbey was based.
The book is a treasure. Full of historical photographs, it also contains recipes for the foods consumed in previous centuries (food I must say I would not want to try even though it was "high class"). I found myself interested in the intricacies of running such a household, from the menus, to preserved notes concerning everything about the home.
A treasure trove of history, the story takes you from the beginning until the present day, where traditions continue unabated.
This tome is a feast for the eyes, I am still finding something new that I missed as I keep going back to it again and again.
Nice photos long for more photos of the family and servants of days gone by. Some weren't described very well.
The recipes were a nice addition but commentary makes it read like the countess is in the kitchen when they have a a chef named Paul.
Some dinner party weekends were overly recorded while others you were more curious about. All in all extravagance with an eye toward the future on how to maintain the Castle.
I picked this up at the local library from the New Books display and thought that I would just page through it at home and look at all the beautiful pictures of Highclere. When I did start thumbing through it I was drawn in to the retelling of historic weekends at the house along with descriptions of recipes regularly used in the kitchen. This provided a unique way to explore the history of this beautiful and historic home. I tried out the recommendation for delicious scrambled eggs - and it did in fact produce amazing eggs. I suspect I will purchase this at some point both for the connection to the show Downton Abbey, and also to experiment with some more of the recipes.
Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame gave the world an amusing retort when the character of the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by the remarkable Maggie Smith asked curiously “What is a weekend?”.
Accordingly this book uses a cunning device between its food courses as it cleverly weaves a series of name dropping visits to Highclere Castle, set over time. These tales are heavily embellished narratives citing examples of the great and good, including politicians, a prolific writer, a Royal Prince and a well known musician of yesteryear passing a “weekend” at Hampshire’s infamous landmark and grounds.
In and out of the heavy weighted pretentious pages of fancy recipes for different types of lavish-style cookery, which occupies the bulk of this book, can be found, crammed in like anchovies in a tin, ( so much classier than sardines ), glossy photographs of food and profiles of Highclere related folk, staff and dutiful old retainers. The would be ready meals are not all every day fare, the food level mostly replicates the fine dining end of town, looks expensive (as is the book at £30). Even the home cook if tempted to try a course, and, assuming all the key ingredients can be found, the best chefs might start to shiver preparing these dishes and achieving perfection.
The accompanying text of the book is sparse and combined with more glossy pictures, offers Chez Herbert, instances of highfalutin at Highclere. It is aimed at posh people playing posher for would be posh people, a blatant money spinner for Highclere coffers now that Downton Abbey is no more . With its reflected glory from the TV series Highclere knows no other way to portray and pay for its own continuing kitchen sink drama. Devotees of Downton will love it. As a cook book it will compete with the myriad of the same ranked and classier cook books from established TV chefs. Serious social, food and other historians can completely ignore it.
Although there are numerous howlers in the description of the coveted and famous and the Herbert clan are offered up without failures, faults or foibles, the storytelling make enjoyable fables from whomsoever was the ghostwriter(s) of the book.
The 1866 visit to Highclere by Disraeli is amusing. He was loathed by both the 4th Earl and his first wife, the 4th Countess, Lady Evelyn Stanhope. Dizzy brought his wife, Mary, the witty Welsh woman, Mary Anne Evans. Of merit is that the coverage ( whilst incomplete) pays due attention to the assertive nature of dear Lady Evelyn Stanhope, portraying her sharp personality as an early Society hostess, and someone with political astuteness. Sadly she died less than 10 years later ( and a month ) after the birth of her daughter, Victoria. Oh! What might have been!
The visit to Highclere in 1886 by the American writer Henry James when Elsie Howard , the second 4th Countess was chatelaine is culled like the fictionalised paraphernalia that Downton Abbey scripts were made of. Elsie is given an interesting eloquence that was absent when James met her in London a few years before - when he found himself seated beside her at a dinner party and records “ Lady Carnarvon, who, though “nice” “ and pretty, has not the genius of conversation”. Henry James was also a gatecrasher at Elsie’s aunt, Lady Portsmouth’s seat at Eggesford House, Devonshire, where the Master expressed the view of a weekend at that stately home as “ the whole thing is dull……..[and] I don’t think I could stick out a Sunday here”.
Not all the examples of VIP visits satisfy inclusion for falling over “ a weekend”. The boozy Canadian statesman Sir John MacDonald’s visit in December 1866 ( at the start of a Conference to determine Canada’s future) was one single night only on Tuesday 11 December 1866. He went with two other colleagues to relax away from the pressures in London. Carnarvon wanted to chat. MacDonald’s first visited Highclere in the late 1850s - when Lord Carnarvon was a mere Under Secretary in the Colonial Office – the book’s narrative is flawed saying that MacDonald’ first ever visit to Highclere was in 1866, by which time Carnarvon was Colonial Secretary. MacDonald was a towering figure in Canadian history and he and others with Lord Carnarvon, 4th Earl, did achieve the goal of creating a Federal Canada from 1867, an event that in 2017 clocks up its 150 years. Well done chaps!
Bertie, Prince of Wales did not spend a weekend at Highclere in 1895. That visit was over three week days. The piece in the book is not transparent. Almina, the 5th Countess’s recollections of the event indicate that the Royal visit to shoot with Lord Carnarvon began on Tuesday 17 December 1895 when Bertie left Marlborough House with Seymour Fortescue, and drove to Paddington and from there took a train to Highclere. There had been delay because of a Royal birth. The Prince was suffering from a painful eye wound yet it did not affect his plans, although the weather took its toll. On Wednesday 18 December 1895 the Prince of Wales and a large party shot over Highclere’s Bigg’s beat and the Warrens. The short hours and the dull damp weather cut back the day’s programme, which was abandoned after a downpour of rain. Lord Carnarvon had gone to a great deal of trouble to ensure his coverts were stocked with 20,000 pheasants that were brought in at some expense. The Prince and his party succeeded in bringing down 11,000 of the birds. The end of Prince's stay was Thursday 19 December 1895.
According to Tony Leadbetter, Almina- Lady Carnarvon’s godson ( who lived with Almina for 30 years) “..the dining was of a high standard, but Almina was astonished that the Prince preferred drumsticks of chicken to best breast meat. The menu was submitted to the Prince daily for approval, and Almina learned that her future King preferred small, choice dinners to elaborate banquets.”
The Easter visit in 1935 to Highclere by the musician/ conductor Malcolm Sargent does not gel. On Good Friday, 19 April 1935 Dr Sargent conducted Handel’s 'Messiah' with the Royal Choral Society at the Albert Hall in London. One would at least have expected the inventive ghost writer (s) to pick up this chronicled history and weave the detail into the text. Sargent’s diary for Easter 1935 is not reproduced in the book and the date of his entry in the Visitor’s Book is blurred. If Sargent’s diary has survived for 1935 (many years were lost as a result of the Blitz), it begs further verification.
Dr Sargent’s private secretary once advised this reviewer that he was always a great friend of the Carnarvons, that element of the relationship is quite true, so ‘Flash Harry’ may have gone to Highclere sometime. Catherine, 6th Countess liked him, but on her mother in law, Lady Almina's advice and knowledge of Sargent’s controversial track record with dating aristocratic women, was careful not to fall in love with him. Sargent was a patient in Lady Almina’s famous London nursing home in Portland Place in the 1930s, Almina never missed a concert when he went to her adopted city of Bristol in the 1950s and ( as he predeceased her) she gave him comfort towards the end of his life when he was dying of cancer.
There are additions and corrections needed to the text regarding references to Catherine Wendell, the 6th Countess of Carnarvon and her divorce. It was Catherine who left Porchey, the 6th Earl and his Butler was given the job of telling him that “ Her Ladyship, Sir, has left you”. The woman had had quite enough of Porchey’s rascality, humiliation, womanising and abuse. The musical director Sidney Beer introduced Catherine to Malcolm Sargent, and thereby hangs a long story and overlaps with the second 6th Countess, the Austrian born dancer, Tilly Losch. Beer was at Highclere in the week before Easter 1935, and stayed on, it seems odd he is not mentioned anywhere. Sargent was a regular dinner companion of Catherine for a long period and together with Almina and Catherine’s brother ( Jac Wendell, who despised Porchey ) helped restore Catherine’s confidence in herself not just as a woman, but as a great lady. She later remarried and ditched the title of Countess of Carnarvon.
Since this book is about home catering it would have been greatly enhanced if the current Countess had had a word with her mother-in- law, the Dowager Countess. That dear lady worked with Lady Almina’s housekeeper, Annie Leadbetter as a regular catering supplier for Highclere teas of chocolate cakes, apricot jam, cucumber sandwiches and pickles. This somewhat more humble fare was requested, served and enjoyed by a frequent weekender at Highclere, Her Majesty the Queen. That story and those recipes would make a much better book.
A must read for fans of Downtown Abbey and lovers of history, this coffee table book by the real Countess of Carnarvon, is divided into chapters depicting four weekends at Highclere over the past 150 years. Being Canadian, I found the first weekend in 1866 involving discussions of the new Canadian Federation very interesting, and was surprised to read that John A. MacDonald was a frequent visitor there. The Earl of Carnarvon at the time was Secretary of State for the Colonies. The castle hosted a weekend with Henry James in 1886, a royal visit from the Prince of Wales in 1895, and a weekend in 1935 involving the London Set, all complete with lots of historical details and menus. The last two sections describe afternoon tea and a typical weekend today. While I can't say I found the food recipes appealing, and all those clothes changes for tea and dinner must have been exhausting, it is an interesting look back at history in the making.
Interesting. I didn't expect recipes; an added bonus. Despite all the wealth, the aristocrats seem to eat fairly conventional and dull food, albeit made of the highest quality ingredients. Photography is quite lovely. Always interesting to read the history of these houses, and to smile a wry smile at the 'we're just preserving it in trust for future generations' line that the privileged and status-laden use. Still, happy that such places still exist, if only to celebrate the artistry, artisanship and architecture seen only in these great castles, palaces and mansions.
Oh, and yes, they did have remarkable gatherings of the rich and powerful within their walls, making decisions, liaisons, political moves and so on that would affect many of the plebs who'd never get past the servants' quarters.
I love the Downton Abbey television series, so I'm not sure what took me so long to start exploring the available books on the subject. In this book, the current Countess of Carnarvon, the owner of the Highclere estate at which the show is partly filmed, shares some history about the family and the estate. She also provides a selection of recipes served there over the years, as the family entertained famous guests including poets and politicians.
This is a nice coffee table style of book, rich with color photographs as well as informative text. I found myself skimming through, enjoying the parts I found relevant.
Whether you are a fan of Downton Abbey or fascinated by the maintained traditions of past British culture, this book is sure to please your interests. A biography of past owners, a glimpse into the "day in the life" of modern Highclere, and recipe book all in one are harmoniously organized. The photographs are stunning and feature locations easily recognizable by Downton Abbey fans. Recipes are conveniently sorted by type and many are quite simple to make with commonly found ingredients; definitely looking forward to trying the few that caught my eye. I also like that the author included at the end of the book other literary choices to check out.
A coffee table book and a beautiful and helpful one at that! I tried reading in bed but it was too heavy. Lovely recipes, especially bramble tipsy pudding.
Great book with great stories about the castle and cool recipes to try. I got mine autographed. Worth the $42 to have it signed. cant wait to try the recipes in it.
Some might call this PBS porn. Very beautiful photographs of Highclere castle, the setting for Downton Abbey. Also included are accounts of four weekends at Highclere (in four different eras) and lots of gourmet recipes. A glimpse of how the other half lives.