AMBLING leisurely along Highclere Castle’s hallowed halls — in the poised and ever so slightly cool manner of Lady Mary Crawley, or so I picture myself — I surveyed every inch of the crimson library.

As an avid follower of Downton Abbey, the grand building and its Georgian interiors certainly felt familiar and yet I was bewildered. I was a fan let loose in the inner sanctum, the place where Dame Maggie Smith sits down for tea and the playpen of the Crawley family. As photographs were prohibited I stared, probably a tad too intensely, in my bid to commit the ‘set’ of the ITV phenomenon to memory.

Making my way up the grand staircase and peeking into Lady Sybil and Lady Crawley’s bedrooms, was an intimate experience it seemed for the zealots amongst us. While the crowds were lively, oohing and aahing downstairs, silence reigned upstairs.

As familiar as it felt, visiting Highclere Castle, was an intimidating experience. Each state room was more majestic and imbued with a sense of history than the next.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the old brick and freestone house was converted to a classical Georgian mansion by the Carnarvon family. During the First World War, it served as a hospital, and patients began to arrive from Flanders in September 1914.

The castle returned to a private home and in the Second World War, briefly became a home for evacuee children from north London.

After a spot of lunch and a tour of the grounds and gardens, it was time to bid farewell. I gave in to fanaticism and cranked up the theme tune to the period drama in the car as Highclere Castle disappeared from view.