Highclere Castle Tours

Our guide Eva made the small-group tour feel personal even with 16 people — she knew which scenes were filmed in which rooms and gave us real history alongside it. The library was the highlight for me.

The Egyptian Exhibition in the cellars surprised us — we went expecting Downton Abbey and left more interested in the 5th Earl's archaeology. Worth budgeting extra time for, which our guide hadn't mentioned upfront.

Travelled with my parents and the Cogges Manor Farm stop was a nice change of pace before the castle. Three hours inside Highclere felt like plenty of time — we even sampled the Highclere Gin.

The black cab tour was worth the extra cost over a coach — our driver Andrew played a few episode clips on the way and pointed out exactly which window belonged to which character's bedroom. The afternoon tea stop ran a little long, but nobody in our group minded.

First time in England and we did the Oxford and Highclere combo. The Bridge of Sighs in Oxford was a highlight I wasn't expecting, and the castle's main hall genuinely looks bigger in person than it does on screen. Our guide Frank kept the whole group of 60 engaged, which can't have been easy.

Booked the small-group tour and the self-guided time in the library was my favourite part — no rushing, no crowds blocking the view of the bookshelves. Bring cash for the gift shop afterwards; some of the smaller items aren't on card-only tills.

We did the Stonehenge and Highclere combo as a group of eight and it worked well logistically — Stonehenge in the morning, lunch on the road, castle in the afternoon. Our guide handled the timing without making either stop feel rushed, which I was worried about going in.

Good tour overall, though I'd recommend checking the castle's open dates yourself before booking — ours was originally scheduled for a date Highclere was closed and our operator had to rebook us. Once we actually got there, the Egyptian Exhibition in the cellars was more interesting than I expected.

Did the pub lunch tour and The Trout at Tadpole Bridge was a genuinely good stop, not just a tourist trap. Our guide poured us a taste of the Highclere Castle Gin once we got to the grounds, which was a nice unexpected touch at the end of a long day.