Our town is the real Downton Abbey – tourists ruin our houses while peeking through our windows

THE residents of the real-life village of Downton Abbey have criticized tourists for ruining their homes while peeking through windows.

The small Oxfordshire village of Bampton features in the six seasons and one movie of the hit TV drama.

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But now, eight years after the last episode aired, the cast has been replaced with buses full of tourists getting a glimpse into the lives of real villagers.

A photo published online shows two women holding their phones to a villager’s window.

“I’m sick of the Downton Abbey grounds,” said a 61-year-old man who lived on Church View, the street where Downton’s Cottage Hospital and Mrs. Crawley’s house were located.

“They’re a pain in the ass walking around with their headphones on and looking through the windows. They are mostly American and Japanese, and some of them feel like I live in a zoo.”

“You just have no idea that real people live here.”

Bampton, a village of 2,500 people, has two cafes, a butcher, deli, charity shop, art gallery, antique shop and garden centre.

The people who live there tell horror stories: selfie sticks appear on bedroom windows, tourists stroll through back gardens, and buses clog the narrow streets.

The owner of the mansion where Downton’s Mrs. Crawley lived rolls her eyes at the mention of the series, describing it as a “very mixed blessing”.

Her neighbor Manja Uglow, 50, said: “We’ve been in Bampton for 18 years. We chose it because it was really nice and quiet there. Now you can have multiple tour groups, hundreds of people all coming at the same time.”

“And sometimes they are led by guides with megaphones telling them where to go and what to see.

“We had to set up automatic gates in front of the entrance because people kept coming in. Now they hang their selfie sticks over the wall to take photos.”

“They think it’s a movie set. I don’t think anyone told them these are private homes where real people live. Now we are all forced to live behind gates.”

But there are advantages. Last year the upper room of the Old Grammar School, founded during the reign of Oliver Cromwell, was beautifully restored for the first time since 1960.

It is now used almost constantly to hold lectures and workshops, creative writing classes and craft therapy.

It was paid for with a £70,000 fundraiser supported by actor Hugh Bonneville, who made a video about it.

Lu Waywell, 30, an actress and piercer, said: “Honestly, I think the Downton connection is amazing. What else would bring people to Bampton? Unless you are buying a second home or have a trust fund to spend.”

“I love watching Bampton on TV and trying to discover places that you know so well. It is unbelievable that what are presented as servants’ quarters are now million pound houses.”

Another fan of the show, a 37-year-old mother who was pushing her stroller toward St. Mary the Virgin Church (St. Michael and All Angels on the show), said: “I don’t mind the tourists at all. I’m from.” a coastal town dependent on tourism.

“The shops here, the new cafe and restaurant, need more than just local trade to stay alive.

“I don’t live in the center of the village where there are a lot of people, but I can imagine it can be intrusive.”

Helene Grygar, 79, lives in Church View, St cotswold I wonder who saw the most filming.

“I can’t say too much,” she said, “because my last job was sorting out locations for the BBC.”

“I can live with that, but I know it upset a lot of people. They gather in the middle of the street and just forget it’s a real place.”

“I actually invited an American woman to come and see my cottage. She had never seen anything like it and kept saying, ‘How beautiful’.

“Some of them ask where the big house is and are disappointed to be told it’s Highclere Castle, which is miles from here.”

Despite the rush of visitors, some doubt that much money has flowed into the area.

Tourists only spend 30 minutes to an hour concentrating around the church and the houses featured in the series.

Jean Gray, 69, a church volunteer, said: “We all loved it when they filmed it, but now I don’t mind so much. But you would think the church would do better given the number of visitors.”

“You’d think they’d put a few pounds into church funds, but they really don’t. You pay all your money to the tour guide and that’s it. Maybe they don’t have any cash.”

Her son, Tom Gray, 41, a care home worker, added: “Sometimes during a service they just walk into the church and leave in the middle of the sermon. Bus and church times don’t always match.”

Jenny Chaundy, 65, runs Bampton’s Community Archive – part of the library in the Old Grammar School building.

The booming gift shop is adorned with historical and Downton Abbey-related memorabilia.

“We were used as a cottage hospital on the show,” she said. “It has brought about changes in the village that are generally positive, albeit with caveats.

“Previously our visitors were mainly from the UK visiting the Cotswolds, now they come from all over the world.

“Some elements of those who come have no respect for residents or their property and it can be very intrusive to people living nearby.

“We had to develop relationships with all the bus companies to mitigate this. We got them to park their buses up the street at the Recreation instead of blocking the streets. The problems are getting fewer.”

“It’s a beautiful village with so much going on. We have 80 volunteers here and on the nearby property which has recently been built there are a lot of young families so there is a great mix.”

This comes after it was revealed that ‘Downton Abbey’ is awaiting a big return eight years after it ended.

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