Today’s minutes of silence and reflection are not merely for the Great War but for those who have suffered since then and who suffer today : soldiers and civilians; the doctors, nurses, charity volunteers and journalists who try to save lives and to broadcast the news to make us all aware of what is happening, thereby perhaps entreating all sides to sit down and talk.

Looking forwards eight months to next August, Highclere is going to be again transformed into a hospital. Almina Carnarvon one of my predecessors, rolled up her sleeves, designated herself head matron here and set about nursing [...]
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Sleeping in the Castle during the night of the storm, I felt both very snug and cosy, the shutters firmly closed and lots of blankets on the bed. Highclere Castle sits on a high chalk plateau so the wind really does howl around the walls and turrets, sometimes blowing down the chimneys into the Saloon. We slept fitfully, hoping we wouldn’t lose telephone lines and electricity, but found to our relief that they were both working when my husband went down to make a pot of tea very early at 5am. By morning the worst of the storm had passed [...]
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Bella our beautiful yellow Labrador had a litter of ten puppies back in September 2012 and we have just celebrated their first birthday. After a really busy week and in a bit of light hearted fun, some of our friends and neighbours who each adopted a puppy, gathered together on the south lawns outside the Castle. One of the puppies now lives with a wonderful friend Karine Hagen whose family created and own ‘Viking River Cruises’ and are also the sponsors for Downton Abbey in America. Karine’s puppy, Finse, named for a beautiful place in her homeland Norway, has also got [...]
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Last week on a beautiful autumn evening we welcomed 200 guests to a cocktail reception in aid of a Kenyan Education Charity, which we support, called LangaLanga. www.langalanga.org.uk

It was started by an amazing English man who helped rebuild 14 primary schools and pay for secondary education of outstanding children each year and support them all the way through to university. It was very uplifting to hear that there were now Doctors, Engineers, Teachers and Nurses who could return to educate and look after their community, adding tremendous value to it, as well as an extraordinary sense of achievement for themselves.

Our [...]
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I was astonished at the response to the article on setting the table in The Sunday Times. I had actually written a small paragraph on how we do it here at Highclere in which all the staff here take tremendous pride and thoroughly enjoy teaching the younger generation coming in.

This is what I actually wrote:

 SETTING THE TABLE

Highclere’s dining room table seats between 4 – 30 people depending on how many leaves are carefully put into the Victorian extension mechanism. Setting the table is an art and allowing enough time is important. The detail and charm of the operation hasn’t [...]
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The first Sunday of every September the Vicar holds a short service in the Cemetery Chapel here at Highclere Castle. It’s a half hour to reflect on those members of your family who have died and those buried in the beautiful park, shaded by trees in the graveyard next door to pastures with sheep grazing. My husband read a short passage from the Gospel and we all sang loudly accompanied by a slightly dicey piano played by a very kind man James Woodhouse. The small gothic chapel was built by Henrietta the 3rd Countess of Carnarvon to ‘comfort those in [...]
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Each day I try to take some exercise and today I set off on my faithful bicycle down the hill away from the Castle with 6 of the dogs more or less near me. We go carefully as cars are coming up, arriving for work. We coast past a group of cottages, where James the Farm Manager lives and then past Don in his Gardener’s Cottage, I then whizz past the old farmyard where the dairy herd used to reside and turn the sharp corner by the Gothic Cemetery Chapel, checking behind me that I am still accompanied by the dogs. Half a [...]
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I wake this morning to an unusually sunny English summer day, I can hear the Castle starting to wake with cars, horse hoofs and the sound of voices echoing from the kitchen area. No good morning would start without a hot cappuccino so I make my way downstairs to the tea rooms before I have to join the queue behind our lovely visitors who tend to arrive ever earlier. Luis our Banqueting Manager and his team are turning on the machines and collecting the fresh baguettes and sandwiches from the kitchen, reminding me to speak to Paul our Head Chef [...]
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