Village divided over Downton Abbey tourism boom: Locals where hit show is filmed hit out at visitors with 'brash American accents' - but others admit series has made them a 'small fortune'

Daily Mail​

05-06-2025

Angry villagers have hit out at Downton Abbey fans with 'brash American accents' for invading their rural idyll - while conceding the show has brought in a 'small fortune'.
Residents in Bampton in Oxfordshire, used in filming for many of the period drama's scenes both on the small and big screen, have been speaking out about its impact.
Some have welcomed the lucrative money from tourists flocking to the place used as an outdoor location standing in for the fictional community of Downton.
The franchise was created and written by Julian Fellowes, featuring stars including Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, Elizabeth McGovern, Dame Imelda Staunton and the late Dame Maggie Smith.
Others, however, are more critical about being 'over-run' by visitors who 'stand on their drives' and annoy with their noise when turning up to pay tribute to the location.
Downton Abbey ran for six series between 2010 and 2015, on ITV in the UK and PBS in the US, and has also been adapted for movies.
The third silver screen instalment The Grand Finale scheduled for release this September.
The series began filming in Bampton's cobbled streets in 2010 - and soon made the village a magnet for tourists from across the world.
The boom in visitors has split the village - with some locals crediting it for generating a 'small fortune' from 'old biddies stuffed with cash' buying merchandise - with the money used to improve local buildings and services.
But other residents of the quaint village say they want their 'front drives free from brash American accents'.
Busloads of US visitors, fascinated by the historical drama's depiction of early 20th century Britain, often come armed with cameras and selfie sticks to Bampton.
They tour sites such St Mary's Church, which hosts weddings, christenings and funerals in the show's fictional village.
Sightseers choosing to take a guided tour around Bampton and other Downton Abbey locations can be set back as much as £500 each.
One elderly volunteer at Bampton Community Hub, used to depict the Downton Cottage Hospital on screen, has now told how the charity's not-for-profit shop was at one point making £1,000 a day from visitors.
It sells a range of Downton goods - including books, snow globes and hats - and has a life-size cut-out of Bonneville, 61, who plays Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham.
The volunteer said: 'It has made us a small fortune. Hundreds of thousands of pounds - we've had thousands and thousands and thousands of visitors.'
Its popularity with visitors has helped the community fund reconstruction of its buildings, including the Old Grammar School.
And those welcoming the boosts say the Downton effect has helped improve services such as a village library, an exhibition space and a community archive.
The volunteer added: 'It is mostly Americans. The elderly ladies helping run the little shop at first didn't know what to do with all the dollars and other foreign currencies that began filling the till.
'It saved our library. It enabled us to restore the interior building. Upstairs we have a social hub - we do events free of charge for the villagers.'
Other Bampton locals, however, are more critical of the town's association with the long-running franchise.
Fabrizio Manerba, 62, said: 'My friend overheard a tour guide say that Bampton was nothing before Downton Abbey.
'Let me tell you - Bampton was a beautiful, expensive place to live long beforehand.'
Mr Manerba described busloads of tourists arriving whatever the weather, adding: 'I live on the main square and they often stand in my driveway - they just go everywhere.'
Di O'Brien, 73, described tourists coming 'at all times' with about 10 buses arriving per da at the town's peak popularity, with visitors lingering and posing for photographs.
The local Post Office's owner Pankaj Grover, 40, attempted to downplay any tensions, saying: 'If someone comes in and asks me about Downton, I send them to the Community Hub. I'm not a competitor.'
Describing his experience of moving to Bampton several months ago, Mr Grover also told of feeling 'surprised by the togetherness the village has'.
He added: 'We are all one community,' he said, adding: 'They work for each other here. As the world gets more selfish, it's so surprising to find a village like this.'
But across the road, Lynn Shuker, who works at Arthur's Attic antiques, said that while the Community Hub was making 'lots of money', the tourist hordes did less for local shops' fortunes.
She said: 'They contribute to the library, but apart from that they don't have enough time. We are better off with individual travellers, with families in cars - not the buses.'
And she insisted: 'There's so much more to Bampton than Downton Abbey.'
Other locals said they preferred to keep out of the arguments over the show's impact and were more amused by all the fuss being made over the village.
Amy Joyce, 33, and Lesley Pearce, 66, admitted to not watching the show and said: 'It's like us going down to London, I suppose - but in London you could go and see Tower Bridge.'
Tanya Newland, 54, a resident born and raised in Bampton, meanwhile highlighted how there were opportunities to revel in the glamour of Downton's production sets.
She was cast as an extra during the filming of some scenes, recalling: 'I was a villager. I had my hair done in ringlets and had make-up put on.
'I love the elegance behind the show, which I think we have lost in modern society - it was a lovely experience'.
Among recent visitors to Bampton has been 65-year-old Kay Frith, 65, from York - almost 200 miles north of the Oxfordshire village.
She told of being an avid Downton Abbey fan, with her favourite character being Lady Mary Crawley who is portrayed by Michelle Dockery, 43.
Ms Frith said: 'She's feisty but also a bit cool and cold. She builds a wall around herself to protect herself.
And she said of the show: 'It's a little bit of escapism, going back to a slower pace of life.'
Locals in Bampton are not the only ones affected by visitors inspired by TV series and films such as the Downton Abbey instalments.
The main venue used as the home in the series is, in real life, Grade I listed Highclere Castle in Hampshire, a sprawling manor and 5,000-acre estate owned by Lord and Lady Carnarvon.
Stately homes across Britain have been experiencing surges in visitor interest off the back of programmes such as the hit Netflix show Bridgerton - with Google searches for its locations such as in west London, Berkshire and Hertfordshire shooting up by 23 per cent in 2022.
Another venue that has hit the big screen - and then attracted viewers visiting in their multitudes - has been Drayton House in Northamptonshire, a focal point in 2023 movie Saltburn.
Many rushed to the British countryside to take in the real 'Saltburn Mansion' featured in the film starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E Grant and Carey Mulligan.
Yet film fans now visiting the manor told of being let down to discover some of the most eye-catching rooms were not open to the public.
Out of bounds is the bathroom which features in a key and controversial scene, when Keoghan's Oliver spies on Elordi's character Felix Catton having a bath, before enjoying himself in the empty tub as the water drains away.
Other settings include rooms featured in the full-frontal final scene showing Keoghan's character Oliver Quick gyrating naked through the mansion to the sound of Sophie Ellis-Bextor's hit single Murder On The Dancefloor.
Enthusiasts descended on Drayton House and the nearby town of Lowick, even though the stately home - owned by the Sackville family - is not generally open to the public.
Yet select groups of locals have been offered tours - while many more fans flocked to the area to approach the grounds and admire the views.
Among those managing to get inside was Maddie Bowness, 21, who worked at the Snooty Fox and met Fennell when cast and crew would stop in.
She visited the mansion with her friends Jasmine Murray, 24, and 26-year-old Sally-Anne Harrison.
Maddie, an art student from Lowick, said in January last year: 'I grew up in the village and it is amazing how much traffic the film has brought to the area.
'At the time of filming, a few of my friends were cast as extras and they had such a fun time.
'I was working in the village pub at the time and met a lot of the crew and some of the cast. Everyone in the village had positive things to say about it.'
It is not just appearances in period dramas that can attract hordes of visitors to some of Britain's idyllic settings.
The outdoor designer outlet retail centre of Bicester Village in Oxfordshire, which is marking its 30th anniversary, pulls in 7.3million shoppers every year.
Many of them are big spenders from China lured in by bargain deals on big luxury brands, Mandarin-speaking staff and easy rail access from London.