Christmas at Basildon Park

What a beautiful day for a visit to nearby Basildon Park! A friend and I went to see the house which was specially decorated for Christmas. These are three of the trees (there were more!) - in the hallway, the dining room and the octagon room. All three rooms were used in the filming of at least one of the Downton Abbey episodes - last episode, series 5. They used the interior rooms to depict Grantham House, the Grantham family's London residence. There are various pictures around showing scenes from this episode and I have a mind to watch it over New Years so I can enjoy it more in context!

Basildon has also been used as a set for numerous other films, most notably the most recent Pride and Prejudice.

I do love that so many National Trust houses are now open all year round. Being a Bank Holiday AND a sunny day (how unusual!), there were plenty of people doing the same, and in fact the car park (including the overflow) looked pretty much full! Many people were heading out on the park walks - what a perfect day for a family outing.

Word of warning though - it seems that in the winter it's not uncommon for a big part of these houses to be closed off for their annual cleaning and restoration. I can well understand the need for that, but for those who aren't members and have to still pay the full price of admission, I think it's not right that there is NO indication of that until AFTER you've parted with your money! Getting into these houses is not cheap and if I wasn't a member I'd be really cross that I wasn't getting my full money's worth! If the entrance price is not reduced, at least tell people before they part with their money that part of the house is closed!