The small English village of Bampton, Oxfordshire, features in the six seasons and the film by “Downton Abbey”. Today, eight years after the broadcast of the last episode of the hit series, the characters have given way to tourist coaches invading the privacy of the premises.
Testimonials reported by “The Scottish Sun”, illustrate a situation that has become unbearable. Mark, one of the villagers, expresses his dismay: “They are annoying, they walk around with their helmets on and look out the windows. I feel like I live in a zoo”.
In this small village which has only two cafes, a butcher, a garden centre, an art gallery and some 2,500 inhabitants, the villagers tell stories “horror” : Selfie sticks emerge from windows, tourists stroll through private gardens and coaches block narrow streets. The owner of the mansion where Mrs. Crawley on the show describes the show as a “very mixed blessing”.
Her neighbour, Manja Uglow, 50, said: “We have lived in Bampton for 18 years. We chose it because it was really charming and quiet. Today, several groups of tourists, hundreds of people, descend at the same time. (…) They are sometimes led by guides with megaphones who tell them where to go and what to see”. Manja Uglow laments a loss of tranquility in recent years. The excitement of the fans for the series forced him to install automatic barriers in front of his driveway so that people stop entering. “They think it’s a movie set. I don’t think anyone told them that these were private homes inhabited by real people. Now we are all forced to live behind bars”explains the resident.
