Highclere's spoof 'Downton Abbey' signs and foxed tourists
HIGHCLERE parish councillors have emphasised that the parish council had no involvement in the spoof road signs stating that the village was twinned with Downton Abbey.
The signs were removed by Hampshire County Council from the A343 in the village.
Meanwhile bewildered tourists are reported to have turned up in search of Highclere Castle, where the award winning television series was filmed, at a village on the Wiltshire-Dorset border, an hour’s drive away.
The signs were taken down as they were “not legitimate” according to the county council, who have since returned them to the parish council for safekeeping. Parish council chairwoman Sally Izett said: “We had no involvement at all, we have no idea who put them up.”
Meanwhile, hordes of tourists have been turning up at the village of Downton, on the Wiltshire-Dorset border, in the mistaken belief they have arrived at the correct location of the filming of the period drama.
This was despite the village of Downton being described in the series as being in Yorkshire – more than 200 miles away from Downton village, which is situated on the main road to Salisbury.