Christie’s is offering you a chance to win an overnight stay at Highclere Castle – the English estate which was featured in the period drama Downtown Abbey on PBS. Bids will start at £10,000 (about $16,800) and Christie’s estimates the overnight stay could go for as much as £15,000 (about $25,000). Funds raised will go to Armed Forces charities to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War. The overnight stay includes the use of three rooms on the castle’s first floor, including the Arundel bedroom, which has been used as Lady Edith’s room and the Mercia bedroom, which has been used as Lady Cora’s room.
The winner will also have the chance to share a three-course dinner with the owners of Highclere Castle, the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon. The starting bid for dinner is £5,000.
Also on offer is private lesson from the household’s butler on how to set a table for a banquet is available from £2,000, a behind-the-scenes tour of the House of Lords, plus afternoon tea at The Goring Hotel, with Baroness Jenkins (upwards of £2,000), while bidders can have their portrait painted in front of the castle by artist Ronnie Sichel from £1,500.
Or, there’s something more affordabel as is a picnic for four in the castle’s grounds (upwards of £250) and a visit to the Egyptian exhibition in the castle’s cellars (upwards of £500), and
The auction is open until August 14th, while veryone else will have to make due with the show’s fifth season, which is set to air on PBS in January, 2015.
