More than 30,000 tourists walked past my kitchen window in 2019.  But looking out this morning I can see the stone of the old Grammar School – the village library – starting to warm in the last day of May’s sun.  Downton Abbey was filmed in Bampton and the library did duty as the Cottage Hospital.  Our cottage – perhaps ten yards over the narrow lane from the library – featured too, although only in passing.

You never know who’s peering back at you. This was taken from our kitchen window. The old Grammar School and library in the background

I’m sitting at my kitchen table, coffee at my elbow, writing this and waving every now and then to neighbours walking past with their dogs; our windows face directly onto the street at the front and sides of the cottage.  We’ve lived here for nearly 20 years and it’s the sort of friendly place where the Continue reading →