For Whom The Bell Tinkles .... Part 2

Where was I ... back to the chat (here) from the other day about the series Downton Abbey and the vintage 'visual feast' that it is:

And to me, the depth of this vintage visual world they have created is most apparent in the servants quarters.

We still access beautiful antiques in the modern world ... in specialist museums ... auctions catalogues ... images online ... and if we are lucky enough - to own some.  However, the servants lives represent the true remnants of an other era that is long gone.

It's in their conversations and the rooms they inhabit and the objects they touch.  Removing stains on clothes with 'crystals'; metal hand-wound meat grinders; stoking wood-fired ovens and stove plates; boiling water in iron stove-top kettles;

... that brilliant long utilitarian table that's in nearly every scene in the servants hall...

... and those delicious bells tinkling in the opening credits.  Such a pretty sound ... but probably not so pretty if you are the person for whom the bells tinkle!

So when I was at an auction the other week and spied a working servant's bell in the bottom of a box lot, I just had to have a bid.  Nothing of note in the rest of the box, but this was what I wanted.  All still working prettily, with the large spring working, and the smaller tension spring still intact.

So now it's in the shop, just waiting for a new home, to start a new life tinkling: ... a shop door? a front door?

Or perhaps the servant's bell in your house needs replacing?  I know mine does.  I ring and I ring .... and yet no one comes ...

Jennifer.

{images via ITV.com and Vintage Finds}

For Whom The Bell Tinkles

'Downton Abbey' opening credits

Do you watch the period drama Downton Abbey?  I just love the sound of those tinkling bells and the music in the opening credits.  Of course I am totally drawn into the twists and turns of the drama, but it's the visual world they have re-created I love best.  The sets, the objects the characters use.

Here in Australia we are viewing episodes considerably behind Europe I believe.  We have only just viewed the ones resolving the financial crisis of the Grantham family; of having lost the family fortune on a Canadian railway investment, and the 'family pile' potentially being sold.

'Downton Abbey' aka Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England

The episode (screened in Australia last week), included an excursion to visit the new and smaller potential lodgings of the family: 'the-to-be-renamed' Downton Place.

And I must admit, I was infinitely more enamoured of the new, pretty lodgings than the old stuffy ones!

scene from 'Downton Abbey' at Greys Court

The episode is set in the grounds of the English National Trust property Greys Court, a mainly Tudor house, with parts of the estate ruins dating to 1347.

Greys Court, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

As it turned out in the drama, the money troubles are resolved after a few twists, and the family will remain at the Abbey, but I was hoping that they would end up in the new digs as I love this one so much more! 

And was looking forward to viewing more such 'teas on the lawn'......

Sybil and Tom strolling the lawns of Downton Place

As to my preference ... it all depends on your perspective really.

Perfectly explained by the characters themselves: Sybil (ex-Lady, now commoner) notes that it looks "cramped" but Tom (ex-chauffeur now family member) aptly points out that it 'looks like a fairy palace to most regular people'!

What do you think?  Which would you love to see yourself living in?

{images via: 'Henley Standard', ITV.com and National Trust}