-It's one of the most recognizable buildings in the world.

Highclere Castle is known to hundreds of millions of TV fans around the globe as Downton Abbey.

In real life, it's the ancestral home of the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon.

-One area we might share some differences in is the sort of tidiness of office zones.

-[Laughing] I don't think you can talk, actually.

-But there's much more to this estate than a world-famous castle.

-He's come on since I was here last.

-Oh, yeah.

-Looking after the business is a constant challenge.

-It's going to be £150,000.

-With huge running costs, keeping it afloat is the responsibility of the Carnarvons and just a handful of staff.

-The coaches are on their way -- the point from which we can't return.

-Now we're unlocking the castle doors as we join the family and staff over one critical season... as they fully open the castle for the first time in three years.

-Come on.

You have to come, too!

-I'm getting there.

-[ Laughter ] -See "Downton Abbey" hit the screens again... Well, it's very exciting to be at the premiere of "Downton Abbey" movie two.

-...and attempt to keep the estate going for future generations.

-No one wants to be the one of a family that somehow loses it on their watch.

-Welcome to the real Downton Abbey.

♪♪ Home to the Earls of Carnarvon since 1679, it's now the 8th Earl and Countess, Geordie and Fiona, who are tasked with keeping the historic house and vast estate running.

-I think people would would find some of our roles surprising because it's quite multifaceted.

Literally, in a day, I can be one moment looking with Fiona at something that we have to fix, like the extraordinary wallpaper high up in this room here, in the library, which we've just fixed not long ago... or I could then be looking in detail at some software to do with social-media marketing.

I mean, it's a bit of a well-known truism, but no two days are alike at Highclere.

♪♪ -Having finally welcomed visitors to the castle again after a long hibernation due to the pandemic, today the Highclere team is gearing up to host their first charity event since reopening.

-I'm just going around and finding what things need to be done.

-The iconic library and grand saloon need to be prepared to host lunch and breakfast for over 100 guests tomorrow.

-It's a great opportunity to hoover this rug while there's no furniture on it, so you gotta grab these chances as soon as they come along.

-We've had a very quick turnaround from being open to the public.

Less than 48 hours ago, we had public outside.

Oh.

Sorry.

Now we've got a smaller number of people experiencing Highclere in a different guise.

And we haven't done this for three years.

-The event will center around a morning of clay-pigeon shooting in the grounds... -Morning.

How are you?

-...with a big-ticket auction after lunch.

The entire castle staff will be on call, with head butler Luis overseeing the service.

-Drinks.

Reception.

-Yeah.

-What is it?

-Champagne?

You've got it.

Elderflower.

Beer trade not to be offered.

Oh, sorry.

Not to be offered.

I need to get you to link up with Chef.

Re-ice -- because it's going to be so warm tomorrow.

We need ice for the drinks.

It is.

19 degrees.

-The fundraiser, in aid of the Starlight Children's Foundation, which supports sick children in hospital, has a long association with Highclere.

-It's the 18th year we've been running this event.

It's raised way over £3 million for Starlight over the years.

We're lucky to have this beautiful expanse of land here at Highclere.

It suits itself very well to this kind of activity.

Of course, for the last two years we haven't been able to do it because of COVID, so it's great that we can start again and bring everyone together this year.

So we're all looking forward to a fun day.

-With guests paying up to £3,900 for a team of four to attend... and possibly considerably more at the auction... it's Luis' responsibility to make sure everything is perfect.

-This room's gonna be very important tomorrow.

We're gonna serve breakfast here, gonna have a buffet here.

Gonna have -- On the dining-room table, which is the very famous dining-room table, we'll serve juices and pastries.

Lunch will be served in the library.

Lord and Lady Carnarvon are gonna be sat on that table, and then Lady Carnarvon will be giving some of the prizes or handing out some of the prizes.

So there will be a tombola there and everything.

And not a bad view, eh?

♪♪ -Head chef Paul and two assistants are trying to get a head start for tomorrow's event.

-So, we've got a...flatbread that we, uh, made today.

We do a very simple layer of, um, cherry tomato, a little bit of mozzarella, more marjoram.

Overnight, that will start to prove, and then tomorrow we'll bake it.

And it's one of the little canapés that we do.

So, tomorrow's banquet is for 110 people in the dining room.

We have a few people that are on shoots out there.

They have pegs in the field, so they want food at the pegs, as we refer to it.

They want a nice bowl of soup.

They want something to keep them going.

They'll come back to the property, they'll have some lovely canapés, a nice lunch.

Hopefully that will end with a nice little cheese course, and everybody goes home happy.

And, yeah, we've got to turn it on tomorrow.

It's gonna be a tough day.

6 down, 240 to go.

♪♪ -On the 5,000-acre estate, routine maintenance doesn't stop, even for big events, with much of it overseen by Lady Carnarvon herself.

-Did I put the keys in with you?

Am I a complete twit?

I put them in the -- -I haven't got any keys or a phone.

-Fine.

I've got the keys.

-Today, Lady Carnarvon and Caitlin, who normally looks after social media for the estate, are heading to check on one of its properties.

-There's a little cottage across the fields here, which is also accessed along a track.

It's a really cute cottage.

It needs a whole lot of thought to it -- from scratch.

-Do you want a hand?

-I should be fine.

[ Laughter ] -Thank you.

-Leave it down.

-Thank you.

Right.

I don't know what my role as Countess of Carnarvon is.

It's, um, usually ringing up a roofer for a leaky roof or there's a broken pipe in the park.

A horse has normally put its foot down a hole somewhere unexpected.

There's the plan to decorate a room, and I often ask my husband's forgiveness rather than permission.

[Laughing] That's the sort of life that I lead.

-The estate has 50 cottages, and this one has recently been vacated by tenants.

Before letting it again, Lady Carnarvon is overseeing renovations.

-We've ripped down -- We had to take all the plaster off to get -- It was damp, and it hadn't been -- None of the heating had been used, and the whole house was falling apart.

Wow.

It still smells.

I think they had so many dogs in here.

Can you smell it?

-Not really.

I smell a smell.

[ Laughs ] -You smell a smell?

-This is going back completely to -- back to the basic of the house.

Because the last person who lived here didn't ever turn the heating on.

And then the house goes backwards, funny enough.

Where we can, we pile in thick insulation everywhere.

We can't insulate the walls because it's an old house built in, I think, 1837, this one.

It's very cute.

So it's doing what you can to do that.

-Today, Lady Carnarvon wants to make some decisions on the decor.

-Putting in a new kitchen, and this is the color, which is, I think, a nice olive-y green color.

I like olive green.

-She now needs to choose a complementary wall color.

-I haven't got my glasses.

Where does it say "lime white"?

Can you tell me?

Oh, my glasses are in here.

-We came prepared.

-Oh, good.

Thank you.

Yes, well done, you.

Ooh!

Marshmallow snow.

Do you like marshmallow?

-Yes.

-I like marshmallows toasted, actually.

-Same!

Lovely.

-[ Laughter ] -Okay, fine.

We'd do well on a bonfire together.

This is a major renovation, but I've done, I don't know, 30, 40.

Now, some of them are older agricultural tenants who were there for life under the old agricultural tenancies.

So there's possibly about 10 families living who will live there forever.

We don't, for a large estate, have nearly as many cottages than, say, Blenheim or Burghley or, um, Beaver or Wilton.

Because they've all got sold, so the capital's been sold off just to simply survive, so...

So what's left here is quite precious because as we try to ask people to work for us, and this is going to be lived in by someone who works for us, we're often providing accommodation.

We can't always compete on the job things of London.

-It's a nice view out that window.

-It's cute.

I mean, I think it's really, really cute.

And this was a new bathroom, which is, um -- -This is a big bathroom.

-This was the bathroom which I put in five years ago, but you'd never know it.

-And it will be a lovely bathroom.

-It'd be nice to put in a separate shower, I think.

-Yeah.

-In today's world.

-The almost 200-year-old cottage is already earmarked for one of the gamekeepers, but it will be a few months before it's ready to move in to.

-I would like to live somewhere like this.

-Keep your horse in the field and come riding with me.

Much better.

-That'd be lovely!

♪♪ -At the castle, with the charity event less than 24 hours away, Luis is doing a last-minute inventory before setting the lunch tables.

-We're just counting the glasses, the cutlery.

We haven't done a lunch like this for three years, so we just find all the cutlery and glassware.

As you can see, we are writing down what we've got.

And we got 40 spoons, so that means we're going to have to go and get more.

We always have brand-new cutlery in our cellar, wine cellar.

We stock brand-new cutlery.

We're okay for knives, but definitely very short on spoons.

-The spare cutlery is kept below stairs in a room that's been the domain of the head butler for generations.

-So, this is what we call the spirit cupboard.

Not many people are allowed to come in here because there's alcohol in here.

So I'm looking for the spoons, and usually we keep them safe.

And where do we keep them?

In a safe.

So this is a very old safe.

It's broken.

It doesn't lock anything.

Oops.

Uh, but that's where you got all the different brand-new, um, cutlery.

King's... Oh!

One.

[ Mutters] We are in luck!

We've got spoons.

We need hundreds.

We need six box.

-The spirits cupboard is also a treasure trove of historic mementos from decades of butlering.

-This is definitely, um, a tool to kind of release -- You know, if you've got old wine, the cork gets stuck to the glass.

So this would cut around, and then you could easily pull it.

Um, so, yeah.

Little things here will be here forever.

-Luis has been maintaining a tradition practiced by a long line of butlers before him.

-Here is where I keep the bottles of the best wine I've served.

So, a Dom Perignon.

1990.

Yeah, so we've got pretty cool bottles of wine.

I mean, this is mine.

I left that one here.

It's a pretty good Château Latour.

Château Latour.

Look.

So, exactly the same brand, different vintages.

Um, a Château Latour lasts usually about 20 years or so.

Um, and that's what we do.

We usually, for Lord Carnarvon, age his wine for about 10 to 15 or 20 years, depending how long they last.

And then we drink it.

Not myself, of course.

I'll try it.

Um, but I enjoy coming here.

♪♪ Here... we got Robert Taylor, my predecessor... with the 7th Earl of Carnarvon.

A bit taller than me and back then, the taller butlers would get paid more money.

So I think they got me on a quite good rate.

Matthew, look!

Panic over!

But -- Okay.

Let's just wash and put it back to use.

Anything else?

We were here two hours ago.

And what were you doing?

Polishing glass.

And what are you doing now?

-Polishing glasses.

-[ Sighs ] How many you got to go?

Two crates?

Is that all to go still?

It's gonna be a long day.

-Because tomorrow, 110 discerning guests are descending on the castle for the charity fundraiser.

♪♪ It's the morning of the children's charity fundraiser, but it's the first time in three years that the castle has hosted a banquet.

-We open the gates at 6:30.

Guests will have breakfast in here, then a briefing, then they go off to shoot.

We turn the castle 'round, ready for a reception.

Then we'll get them in to lunch.

We hopefully have given them an enjoyable experience up to that point, which encourages them to bid ferociously for the auction prizes that are available.

Look at these!

It's three liters.

It's a double magnum.

That'll help your barbecue go with a swing.

-Making the day a success will require all hands on deck.

-A bit of a stressful morning.

We're just getting ready for the guests to arrive, just waiting on some food from the kitchen, but we are ready to go.

[ Radio chatter ] Biggest challenge of the moment, it's definitely staff.

We're struggling to get staff.

I called the agency asking for 12.

Luckily, we managed to pull five staff from there.

So, we then have help of the estate office, and some other girls came in to help.

Just set places around and exactly the same here.

So, bacon, baked egg, and Scotch egg, sauces, bread, and teas and coffees, okay?

Back of house.

Nothing can go wrong.

We know people that are here are very important people.

They're people that been to the best restaurants and hotels in the world.

And everything needs to go to plan.

Um, so the service, this will be the best that we can do.

We're waiting on one set of Scotch eggs and one set of baked eggs.

That's great, Chef.

-It's down to Paul and just two other chefs to provide a top-notch breakfast, canapés for a drinks reception, and a three-course lunch for over 100 guests.

♪♪ As usual, Lady Carnarvon is keeping a close eye on proceedings.

-For all of us, it's trying to remember how we used to do it, which is all a bit challenging when we -- when we have been so out of practice, funnily enough.

It's really quite interesting as we work our way through it.

-It's the right stuff.

More bacon in here?

-Yes.

Bacon is over here.

♪♪ -Outside, marshaling the guests' transport is head of visitor reception and the Carnarvons' part-time chauffeur, Paul.

-Can this one go further over?

'Cause this is the walkway.

So, we do a display here for all the, um -- the guns to go in the cars, and then they go out to the various shoots.

As a chauffeur here, it's Range Rover, Rolls-Royce.

You can't beat them.

It's something special.

-Today's event will take the form of a competition between parties made up of four shooters.

And Lord Carnarvon will be leading from the front, heading up a team of his own.

-Lord Carnarvon, shooting with horse trainers?

Is that part of your shooting?

Anti-slip?

-It's like being on the ski slope.

-Anti-slip!

-I can be seen from a long way away.

-Lord Carnarvon's seen a weather forecast for fog.

He's the only -- He's the only member of the shooting team we'll find later.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -As the breakfast buffet is finally fully stocked, the guests begin to arrive... ♪♪ ...and include Lord Carnarvon's eldest son, George.

-Are they going to put your score online this time?

[ Laughter ] -I think they did the other day.

It was zero.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -Anyway.

Do they have coffee inside or...?

-Yeah.

Coffee inside there.

-Perfect.

♪♪ -With breakfast service passing muster, Lord Carnarvon kicks off the day's proceedings.

-Dylan, thank you very much.

And a big welcome to Highclere, what will be our 18th year.

I'm sure you're all gonna have a wonderful time out on the beautiful estate here in the North Hampshire Downs because of great scenery, some fantastic sand, and, of course, we're trying to raise -- We've already raised £3.5 million over this period.

Let's make it £4 million today, guys!

Why not?

So let's dig deep later for some big donations.

Shoot well, be safe, and have a fantastic time.

-Thank you, Lord.

Thank you.

Your cars are waiting for you.

Thank you very much.

-Over the course of the morning, the teams will take it in turns to shoot at five stands dotted across the estate.

And the winner will be the party that hits the most clay targets.

-We'll go along to the far left, sir.

We shoot until we hear the sound of the whistle.

Drive in from the west line.

Okay?

♪♪ ♪♪ -Ugh!

♪♪ -[ Whistle blows ] -No, that's it.

-Huh!

That's exhausting.

-Well, I got actually most of the ones I shot at, but in the end, it was -- Fitness was a problem.

I actually got just too tired.

I couldn't get the gun off fast enough.

[ Chuckles ] [ Guns firing ] -Did he shoot -- Did he shoot well?

-He shot very well.

-With an eye on his father's score to beat, George and his party take their turn.

-Got a new gun this year, so let's see if it works.

-Okay, gents!

Eyes up!

Load up!

Here we go!

Right!

♪♪ -Got it.

Good.

♪♪ -Ah!

-Ahh!

-[ Whistle blows ] -Thank you.

-My pleasure.

-How did it go?

-That was good fun.

I think we got quite a high score.

-189.

So...378.

The high score of the day so far.

-It's not the highest score of the day so far, but it's up there.

-You beat Dad.

-You beat Dad.

-You did beat Dad.

-In addition to lunch, the shooting parties are provided with snacks at the stands.

And as it's all hands on deck, grooms Sam and Maggie are mucking in.

-Ooh.

-Oh, we have...

There's, I think, sausage rolls.

Soup.

-Actually, when there's stuff to be done, we all kind of mull together and just get on with what needs to be doing -- apart from the horse part of it 'cause none of them can do any of that.

[ Laughs ] And it's heavy lifting.

-That's dangerous.

-Um, but, yeah, normally we all kind of mull in and help whatever, really.

And it's -- Again, it sort of diversifies your job.

It's a bit more fun and a bit different.

-Yeah, it's a good bunch of people, as well, isn't it?

Yeah.

-But even on catering duty, the horses are never far from their minds.

-So, we've got apples in the back, and the majority of the time there's not many of the guys that tend to eat them, so we sort of -- When we come around and collect, collect up plates and everything later, we collect the apples, and the horses have a nice little treat.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -A very good sausage roll.

She does make fabulous sausage rolls.

-Thank you very much.

-There you go.

-Is that mustard?

♪♪ -Back at the castle, as the guests return, Luis oversees the champagne reception while Chef Paul provides the canapés.

♪♪ -Arancini and chili garlic balls.

Okay?

One of the unique features about being at Highclere for, say, a banquet or a large dinner, the kitchen is situated away from the main house.

It's a good 200 yards from where we sit today in this, my beautiful kitchen, to get into the dining room.

Historically, chefs like to set stuff on fire, and rather than burning down the main house, they thought we'd locate them a little bit further away.

♪♪ -No.

Yeah.

We got a high score on a few drives.

-Yeah, you did.

Two stands, you were top gun, weren't you?

-Um, but that's why I brought these guys here.

-Just finished our canapé service.

The venison burgers, the garlic prawns, and the fish on a stick.

And there's six different canapés in there.

And now we're just glazing the pork, ready to get upstairs to get the dining room done.

And then 102, I think, for lunch.

And hopefully then bid some lovely money for some lovely prizes whilst enjoying some cheese.

I get to clean the kitchen and go home.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -But first there's lunch to get through.

To avoid the 200-yard dash from the kitchen, the dining room has been turned into a service area.

-Oh, we need wiping again here!

-Table 8.

10 people.

All normal.

-Being so short-staffed means even castle manager John has to help plate up.

-I haven't read an e-mail today.

Pandemic and Brexit, and we've all forgotten what to do.

Hold on, Luis, can we have some napkins?

Put it down there.

Don't burn yourself.

Put it down.

-What's the matter?

-We need some more napkins.

The lady can't carry the plate.

Don't worry.

You said the right thing rather than dropping it.

-Check the waters and wines, okay?

Okay.

We have a line.

Yeah?

10 people, isn't it?

♪♪ Lord Carnarvon...

It is going pear-shaped.

No, I'm just joking.

Can you check your tables for wines and waters, please?

Wines and waters.

Wines and waters!

We're halfway through at the moment.

We've done the main course.

You can definitely tell we're a bit rusty.

I think it's a bit like ducks paddling really hard underneath the water, but then, hopefully, on the surface no one saw it.

Let's take this.

Take, take, take, take, take.

Go.

What do you need?

-This one red?

-Now everyone's shouting out.

It's trying to find staff.

That's our problem.

-I searched!

-You're the man for that.

-I've never usually gone around a table and serve food, but we are short, so I went in.

-It's been a challenge, but the team has pulled it off.

And now it's time for the all-important charity auction.

♪♪ -We also have a mixology class.

And we have, for four people, a Michelin starred evening at the Frog restaurant in Covent Garden.

Now, do I see for this a measly £3,000?

£3,000.

Ladies, bid on table 1.

Give a round of applause, everyone!

£3,000!

We're going on.

£34,000.

-Well, it's been a winning day all 'round because Starlight must have raised towards £100,000 today, which is absolutely fantastic, and I'm really so, so pleased.

Another fantastic day for them here for such an important cause to help these children who are often very sick and really need either a special experience or just a better experience day to day in hospital.

And we had a win, and my son George managed to be the top team, top guns of the day, which is great, so well done to him, too, and everyone who came here.

It's been a fun day.

-Despite a three-year banqueting gap, the small Highclere team has pulled it out of the bag.

-My feet hurt... [ Laughter ] -But tomorrow, new challenges await in the castle grounds.

♪♪ Surrounded by its iconic cedars, Highclere Castle sits in 1,000 acres of parkland designed for the 1st Earl by the famous 18th-century landscape gardener Capability Brown.

-Actually, when you wake up out of bed in the morning and you open the shutters, you look out over this extraordinary Arcadian landscape and the sun waking up and the trees.

-Of course, all the planning and forethought of my ancestors going all the way back to the 18th century, it's amazing.

They didn't see it all, but we benefit from it today.

-Carrying on the family tradition of steadily improving the grounds, today the current custodians are seeing the fruits of one special new project.

-Geordie, darling.

Philip.

Francesca.

-Great to see you.

-Yeah.

Good to see you.

-Nice to meet you.

-The Carnarvons have been collaborating with award-winning rose breeder Philip Harkness and his team.

-So I was going to suggest we headed down to the rose arbor.

We've been developing two roses now for some time -- Lady Carnarvon Rose and Highclere Castle Rose.

The Highclere Castle Rose is a really nice climber.

And the one named in honor of me is a little shrub rose with scent.

I love scent.

And cream and white.

-Well, it's just absolutely exquisite.

It just gives you the full idea of the most amazing part of the British summer, which is a scented rose, isn't it, really?

-Philip's family has been in the business for over 140 years.

-We've got this incredible estate, and we've come up with a climbing rose with a wonderful perfume, um, which, again, it's one of those things.

That perfume.

You can't smell it and not smile.

It's good for the mind, the body, and the soul.

And the one for Lady Carnarvon, um, it's just such a good rose.

If I ever look at the foliage... Don't need for flowers.

The foliage is wonderful.

It's lush, it's green, it's glossy.

-In five days' time, they'll be launching the two roses at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, but today is about finding a place to display them in the castle grounds.

-There were no rose gardens here -- not many gardens when Geordie and I took over.

So I think creating the gardens, I think, is one of our better legacies, I hope.

So we could actually just -- if you were up for it -- just leave it here, and I can ask Paul to put it in later.

Or what do you think?

-Can stay here and find a new home.

There's a space just asking for it to go in there, isn't it?

-What?

Here?

I think so.

So... Ahh... -Lady Carnarvon has another destination in mind for the climber -- the castle's secret garden -- often the onscreen location where Downton's dowager would take afternoon tea.

But it recently lost two special trees that formed a natural entrance to it.

-The saddest thing was we had two big incense cedars just here, when they fell over.

One of them fell over in the storm on the wall, and the other was compromised, so we took them down.

-I used to stand between those Italian red cedars at the height of summer, getting all the scent from them as if I was somewhere in Italy.

[ Laughs ] But, sadly, they succumbed to the storm.

I remember I was with Paul on the morning, and the wind was probably about 40 miles an hour.

Then I thought, "Oh, we might just get away with this."

By 4:00, one of them had gone completely and the other one had a crack in it.

So, sadly, they both had to go.

-Sad.

--Yeah.

-Having said that, we now have a lot more wall for the Highclere Castle Rose.

[ Laughter ] And I bought this, um, archway thing, and we thought, you know, we can have roses and things growing around it.

-Head gardener Paul is in charge of turning Lady Carnarvon's vision into a reality.

Once the arch is installed, grow some honeysuckle up over the arch, plant up some shrubs either side to give it some height so that we recreate the entrance into the secret garden.

So, as opposed to the walking through the gate and going, "Oh, look, there it is," you actually have a little element of, "Ah!

There it is!"

-For Paul, this isn't just his place of work.

It's also his own back garden.

-I'm very fortunate in that I've got a property on the estate.

It's just beautiful.

And, yeah, everyone goes home, and I walk my dog in the evening and I think, "You know, it's not bad, is it?

Not bad having a 5,000-acre back garden."

This doesn't happen too often, to be fair, although I suppose we take on -- normally in the winter -- but we take on one project a year like this.

It's a -- The whole garden's a constant steady improvement.

Things are always changing.

-Paul's is not the only small team kept busy all year round.

In the castle courtyard, next to the stables for the riding horses, the bustling gift shop is an important source of revenue.

It's run by a team of two assistants... and manager Sally.

-Hi, Anne.

Do you need some help?

Yeah.

Okay.

That is Anne in the shop.

A tour has just finished.

And we've got lots of people coming into the shop.

This is Bea, who's my lovely assistant.

-Hello.

[ Laughs ] -And Bea needs to put that down and go and help.

[ Indistinct conversations ] Sometimes all three of us will be in the shop.

Sometimes it only needs one person.

And I'll be doing the paperwork.

And Bea would be doing the packing.

But, anyway, we all muddle on together, basically, and just try and get what needs to be done... done each day.

-Today Sally's also juggling a deluge of new stock.

-Is this it or is there another one coming, as well?

That's it.

Okay.

-That's it.

-Right.

So who's this one from?

This is an absolute nightmare because, um -- But this isn't the stoneware, is it?

No.

This is all the stuff -- Because I think they're gonna want to bring the horses in, so somehow we're gonna have to find somewhere... Ha ha ha!

To put this.

Typical day in the gift shop, really.

Um, so we have the public in, which is fantastic.

We have got too many deliveries.

Huge castle.

No space, ever.

I've colonized half the stables, the beaters rooms, and somehow I've got to get it all down into a better space.

I have a nasty feeling there might be another pallet coming tomorrow, as well.

I have no idea, Bea, where we're gonna actually squidge all this stuff.

I've known Lord and Lady Carnarvon for a long time, and when "Downton Abbey" took off, they very sweetly asked me if I'd like to come and help them because they were slightly drowning.

Uh, and, um -- And it's been wonderful.

It's been nearly 11 hugely fun years now.

Let me get creative here.

Some of this is actually empty boxes.

That can go in the skip.

-Yeah.

-That can go in the stockroom because that's stationery.

It's an amazing job because I've had a slightly dilettante career, with a bit of accountancy, a bit of journalism, a bit of PR, and everything has come together.

So I sort of have to thank all my previous employers for whom I wasn't very satisfactory because I never quite fitted into the box.

And here I think I do, hopefully.

We'll just block the doorway slightly -- very slightly.

We've got to keep this.

We can't block that one up anymore.

Um, yeah.

There's never any space.

Never any space.

♪♪ -Back in the grounds, the arch for the Secret Garden is almost installed.

♪♪ -No.

That'll do.

That'll do very nicely.

I think that's set in the middle at the right height.

Just got to bed those feet in.

Top up the hard core.

Bit of black matting.

Gravel.

Tie it to the edge.

Tomorrow nobody will ever know this was just done today.

-I come bearing gifts of Magnums, which you need to eat quite quickly, or they will melt.

Honestly.

It is I think the hottest day of the year that you've chosen to do it, so... -Thank you.

That's awfully kind.

-Thank you.

-Pleasure.

-Lord Carnarvon's concerned about the rose.

We should put down the rose arbor.

-Yes.

-So... -Come back for a water before planting and you have an ice cream instead.

Honestly, Paul, you've done a great job.

Thank you.

-I haven't done anything.

I've just stood and pointed.

[ Laughter ] -With the arch in place, Lady Carnarvon can think about positioning the new roses.

-I think we need to plant groups of three or five or whatever else.

-We can definitely use this space up now.

One can go there, definitely.

-[Muffled] One on the other side.

-Yeah, and then we got the two spaces in the...bed for the Lady Carnarvon Rose.

-A successful display could be key to enticing visitors to buy the new roses.

-We need to think about how many we order, how many we buy in as wholesalers, and then how many we think we might sell if we promote it, which would be also very nice, to have the first, you know, 100 roses or something.

You're selling them here or...?

-Selling them here.

-Yeah.

Excellent.

-But the first test for the specially commissioned shrubs will be how they're received at the upcoming Chelsea Flower Show.

♪♪ Unlike many of Britain's heritage properties, Highclere Castle is still very much lived in.

-We've deliberately left around plants, photographs.

There's the everyday small details, which is what people want to see.

It's a home, not a museum.

-Today's visitors have the rare chance to hear firsthand what it's really like to live in a castle.

-Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to Highclere.

People have come here to learn a bit more about everything, about the building and its surroundings and how we actually live and work around the castle.

-What was it like for you here as a child?

-Well, actually, when you're quite small, it's a little bit daunting, some of this building.

It's kind of a bit more frightening.

But there's always a thing about kids exploring.

So it was fun to be up amongst the upper rooms and find the old nursery and see if I could find old toys and that kind of thing.

Now, the person who sees ghosts is not really me, but my wife, Fiona, who's more, as they say, fay.

They're not too unfriendly, as it were, but she has come across them.

-I'm just wondering how you've managed over the years to be able to do the work that you've done financially.

-It has come through the family and quite a lot of hard work.

We're not part of National Trust funding, so we have to be quick on our feet and thinking the whole time about how we're gonna generate cash as to how we can fix these buildings.

-While Lord Carnarvon brings in the cash from their paying visitors, outside, Lady Carnarvon is planning how to spend their hard-earned revenue on much-needed building repairs.

-Do you want a hat?

-No.

I've got a very nice hat.

I spent a long time finding this hat.

-And it's not just the castle that's in need of emergency upkeep.

Dotted across the estate are six 18th-century follies -- ornamental structures without much practical purpose built by the former Earls of Carnarvon to enhance the landscape.

♪♪ Jackdaws Castle, a Grade 1 Listed mock classical temple built in 1743, stands across the lawns from the castle library.

-Got the scent of those azaleas.

Isn't it marvelous?

-It's been closed off to visitors since early 2022 due to its dangerous crumbling stonework.

Today, Lady Carnarvon has brought in architect Adrian to inspect the damage.

-This was all beds and... -No.

This was the castle garden.

-Right.

So you clearly haven't read my bloody book, have you?

-Our concern here is public safety.

So we've had some sections of the render fall off.

It's cracked, and where it's cracked, water has gotten around the back of the render, which has frozen over the winter.

And then water expands as it freezes.

And it's blowing the render off.

-Adrian needs to get a closer look at the stonework to work out a plan of action and how much it will cost the Carnarvons.

-I mean, I can see some quite serious splits.

-That face is pulling away.

What we've got is Roman cement render, which is Victorian.

It was a very quick-setting render, easy to use.

But what it is, is very brittle, so it does -- -So it's my husband's ancestor taking the quick, cheap option, isn't it?

[ Laughs ] -It was the repair fashion of the time.

-And it just happens to be the roll of the dice, as has coincided with my lifetime, in fixing ancient heritage buildings.

And that's the thing which has kept Fiona and I up at night above everything else.

♪♪ [ Thud ] -Oh.

Don't.

Don't laugh, James.

So I'd rather be careful, go up safe and slow, rather than not.

God, this is vast, isn't it?

I'm completely blown.

It's extraordinary how dangerous water is, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

-So, this used to have a roof on it in mid-18th century.

I'm interested in whether we put the roof back, because you would have less water ingress.

I could use it for a dinner or a lunch and sell it to bring some money back in to keep going.

-That would be wonderful because that secures long-term use for it.

It does.

I mean, I think for people to have afternoon tea here would be so dreamy.

-But Lady Carnarvon's dream of a new catering venue might prove a nightmare for her bank balance.

-Just in terms of paying for it, I always prefer doing things in steps, because I need to look you in the eye and say, "I've got the money," which you would like, as well.

What we've got is a big problem.

I mean, I reckon that before this project is finished, it's going to be... £120,000 to £150,000.

I don't have that amount of money, so I've got to figure out where it's gonna come from!

-But if Carnarvons can scrape together the funds to turn the folly into a new afternoon tea venue, hopefully it will begin to pay for itself.

-Everything here needs to be sustainable, or it's not going to survive for the next 200, 300 years.

And I'm thinking, "Okay.

We got to find the money."

[ Laughter ] Blooming water.

-Come hell or high water, for the past 21 years, Lord and Lady Carnarvon have been determined to raise the funds to keep repairs to their heritage home going.

-Thank you all very much for being here.

[ Applause ] Times have changed.

There would have been a time of Edwardian period, of Victorian period, when the owners of a place like this would be less worried about whether they were gonna survive financially.

In the modern world, you really do have to work hard developing new ideas that are going to support it on into the future.

-One such idea is creating their own branded roses.

And today at London's Chelsea Flower Show, the Carnarvons are making a personal appearance for the long-awaited public launch.

Selling them probably won't cover the folly repairs, but it's important to maximize every revenue stream.

-Well, we're at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, at the Chelsea Flower Show, and we're gonna be looking to see our two Highclere roses on the Harkness stand.

So we're looking forward to seeing them.

-And selling them.

-Oh, of course!

[ Laughter ] -Their roses will be competing for buyers with 550 floral displays and cutting-edge garden designs from the UK's top exhibitors.

-This is an amazing avenue of London plain trees.

It's about the only thing that I get allergy to, but hopefully not today.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ We get more of these aquilegias, but there's the sort of semi-wild types of them.

-Lovely.

-Another type of...

It's that sort of burnt-copper color.

-It's magic, isn't it, Geordie?

The effort that people go to to create these show gardens is extraordinary.

I'm always bowled away by that.

-Oh, yeah.

Got a fantastic scent off it.

-Is that... -Yeah.

♪♪ -I love all their hats.

Now, that's a nice roundtable.

These are pretty.

Geordie, do you have a preference?

-I think the one with a little bit of blue in it is the best one.

-Let's go with this one.

I really enjoy this bit here coming down because there's some amazing stalls to see and lots of things to buy that are tempting stuff, but then you go through to all the glorious flowers.

So it's just a great atmosphere here, really.

♪♪ -But today isn't just about spotting bargains.

With the show's opening day attracting the great and the good to Chelsea, it's just as much about people-spotting.

-Oh, hello, gorgeous one.

How are you?

-Very well.

How are you?

-You're looking very elegant.

-Oh, hi!

-Hello.

Greg Hands.

-Hello.

Hi, there.

-MP for where we are in Chelsea.

-Yes.

-Oh, good!

-Are you displaying?

-We are.

We got two Highclere roses with Philip Harkness.

This is the first time out.

-Marvelous.

-The climber.

Yeah.

It was introduced this season.

It's fantastic.

It's bright pink red with the most amazing scent, which is great.

-Alright.

-Bye.

-Having spread the word about their new creations, it's time for Lord and Lady Carnarvon to see their roses displayed in the Great Pavilion.

-Hello!

Look at you!

My God!

Fantastic!

You look wonderful, Francesca.

Honestly, Frankie.

-Oh, so do you!

-You smell nice, too.

-Oh.

Thank you.

Roses.

-How nice.

It looks fantastic.

-Well, this is the Highclere Castle climbing rose.

It sort of goes with my tie this morning.

Look.

There's a great companion for it.

My wife, Fiona's -- Lady Carnarvon Rose.

-What is it like seeing myself as a rose?

Do you know what?

My husband would like this 'cause it doesn't answer back, so I think it's really good.

Often people go for brighter colors, but I think a white cream rose has a place in every garden.

-It's a much-neglected and maligned color.

It breaks up all the sort of difficult spaces.

-There we go.

I break up difficult spaces.

[ Laughter ] Oh, Alan!

[ Laughs ] What a treat.

You're looking very swish.

-What do you got there?

-Yeah, it's a Highclere climbing rose.

Highclere Castle rose.

-And I am a shrub.

-Of course, you are, dear.

[ Laughter ] Might I come close to your lapel?

-You can.

You actually -- The one that came to Highclere was so powerful because it had been in the sun for a bit.

-You're very handsome.

-Thank you very much.

Well, the rose is very handsome.

I don't know about me.

-The Carnarvons' roses are in good company, sharing the Harkness stall with new breeds dedicated to the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II.

-Now you can look lovingly at my rose.

-I can look lovingly at your rose.

And I'm wearing my rose, so it's great.

There's no problem.

-With 168,000 visitors attending Chelsea over the next five days, the two new Highclere roses could soon be finding their way into gardens all around the country.

♪♪ [ Cheering and laughter ] -I obviously hope that we have a sales success.

You have to start by selling one rose, then another rose, so everything starts with small steps.

[ Laughs ] -Shall we raise our glasses?

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

Good luck.

-I hope you sell loads of all the roses.

[ Laughter ] -Next time... -You know where everything is.

-I certainly don't.

That's the problem.

-So this is Egypt, box 522.

-...Highclere prepares for the centenary of a former Earl's famous discovery... -It's great to see everyone here this evening.

-...Luis is in high spirits for the Carnarvons' private cocktail party... -Our secret ingredient.

Orange marmalade from Lord Carnarvon.

-...and 8,000 patriotic revelers... -They're doing jolly well up there.

-...descend on the castle for the biggest event of the summer.

-Highclere is fully on form again!

[ Crowd cheering ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪