Inside The Real Village Downton Abbey Is Filmed In

It's clear that the town of Bampton has all the history that the production team of "Downton Abbey" needed for the town of Downton, but why was that particular location chosen? There are plenty of other British towns that had the right look and could have easily passed for an early 20th century village.

In a documentary for the BBC, the show's creator, Julian Fellowes, explained, "I seem to remember I was simply shown photographs [of Bampton] and it seemed perfect." Apparently, it actually took the production team a while to find their perfect locale. According to the Witney Gazette, Dame Pippa Harris, a resident of Bampton, was friends with Donal Harris, the show's production designer, and she recommended the village. "Within a week he was here with his team, and it looked as though he'd found the perfect place," Bampton local Robin Shuckburgh explained on his YouTube channel, "The Cotswold Explorer." The town, he explained, had wonderful historic features, was close to Highclere Castle, and had plenty of parking space for the film crew.