I met Julian Fellowes once, back in the heady heat of last summer.
We were in a garden, where the peonies swayed like a clutch of Crawley sisters, pink, rose and white silks ruffled by a pollen-infused breeze; each topped with blossom as elegant as a cloche hat.
Behind us stood a centuries-old house, ghostly with party-goers-past, as ephemeral as the golden bubbles in their long-quaffed champagne. Overhead, a low-flying bee buzzed through a July-blue sky, lifting and dipping like a biplane. Below us, mostly unseen on this greenest of lawns, scurried worker ants, endlessly foraging.
While we…
Well, we ate effortlessly off mouth watering platters brought to our expectant hands by attentive waiters.
Then, someone asked: “Would you like to meet Julian?”
And there he was, reclining on a garden chair under branches of a tree spreading like an emerald parasol. Surrounded by a coterie of ‘names’. Dressed immaculately. Urbane and witty; generous in focus.
And that was how it was. A hierarchy of perfection. Everything in its proper place. Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, is beautifully mannered.
“Thank you very much for speaking to me,” I say, gratefully, when he comes on the line.
“I’m delighted!” he replies. “I’m more delighted,” I point out. Partly because I have the more substantial claim.
And partly because manners are everything in Downton Abbey, the television series Julian Fellowes cocreated back in 2010; the period drama – set in an English country house - that’s taken the world by storm.
Once, when Maggie Smith (playing the distinguished Dowager Countess Violet –
Denne historien er fra October 2019-utgaven av Cotswold Life.
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Denne historien er fra October 2019-utgaven av Cotswold Life.
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Gloucestershire After The War
Discovering the county’s Arts and Crafts memorials of the First World War
THE WILD SIDE OF Moreton-in-Marsh
The days are getting shorter but there’s plenty of reasons to be cheerful, says Sue Bradley, who discovers how a Cotswolds town is becoming more wildlife-friendly and pots up some bulbs for an insect-friendly spring display
Mr Ashbee would approve
In the true spirit of the Arts & Crafts Movement, creativity has kept the Chipping Campden community ticking over during lockdown
The Cotswolds at war
These might be peaceful hills and vales, but our contribution to the war effort was considerable
Trust in good, local food
‘I’ve been following The Country Food Trust’s activities with admiration since it was founded’
Why Cath is an open book
Cath Kidston has opened up almost every nook and cranny of her Cotswold idyll in a new book, A Place Called Home. Katie Jarvis spoke to Cath ahead of her appearance at this year’s Stroud Book Festival STROUD BOOK FESTIVAL – THIS YEAR FREE AND ONLINE: NOVEMBER 4-8
From the Cotswolds to the world
Most people know that the Cotswolds have featured in a fair few Hollywood movies and TV series.
The Wild Hunt
In search of the legendary King Herla in the Malvern Hills
Fighting spirit amid the flowers
Tracy Spiers visits Warwick, a beautiful town that is open for business and ready to welcome visitors
Final journey
Cheltenham author and volunteer on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR), Nicolas Wheatley, recounts the fascinating story of funeral trains