Country Estate Quotes

What is a week-end? Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey.

Maybe the one I enjoyed playing most was A Month in the Country.

I thank God, I have been able, by adopting Principles of strict Economy and Frugality, to keep my principal, I mean my Country-Estate, unimpaired.

A house in the country is not the same as a country house.

You have no idea what's going to happen [in Downton Abbey] until you get the script. We roughly knew a couple of the key points that were going to happen, but when I got the last episode, I turned to the last page to check that I was still alive.

My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?

We were all expecting to finish [Downton Abbey] after Series 1, actually. And then, it got extended to Series 3, and that's when two of our much loved and much missed friends left. And then, it was going to be done with Series 5, but Julian Fellowes said, "I'd like to do one more." So it's been a series of extensions, rather than wondering how much longer we can go on for.

I'd done "Gosford Park," a film that Julian Fellowes had written that Robert Altman directed.

I've stayed in houses that were in the country, and in England, but I'm still not sure that I've stayed in an English country house.

I was halfway through writing a gothic, country house mystery when, out of the blue, I received an email inviting me to audition for the ITV show, 'Popstar To Operastar.'

I'm proud of the fact that Downton Abbey was born in a recession, at a time when ITV had dropped a lot of drama programmes. And I know that because I was out of work at the time!

A dead body was discovered this week on the grounds of a country estate owned by Queen Elizabeth. The queen said today she hopes this serves as a reminder to anybody on her staff that there is a right way and a wrong way to polish sterling silver.

A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted.

I've often wish'd that I had clear, For life, six hundred pounds a year; A handsome house to lodge a friend; A river at my garden's end; A terrace walk, and half a rood Of land set out to plant a wood.

I don't need a Rolls-Royce, I don't need a house in the country, I don't need to live in the south of France. I'm quite happy as I am.

That soul-subduing sentiment, harshly called flirtation, which is the spell of a country house.