Basildon House in English Hindoostan 

After a long walk from the car park through lush emerald greenery we came upon the honey- hued Bathstone splendid façade of the Basildon Park House in Reading England, a stunning Georgian Mansion set within 400 acres of woodland . We set out to explore its journey from an 18^th century  home to a deserted home to a fashionably restored home in the1950’s.  Though today we were here for an additional reason. Basildon Park had been one of the filming locations of the globally sensational Television serial – Downton Abbey. Basildon Park was projected as the Grantham house of the Crawley family  in London for the interior scenes where the family enjoys the summer social revelry.

Times bygone and English Hindoostan

Basildon Park House Back

A short while ago , enjoying the woodland-walk towards the house my thoughts had reverted to the historical records of Basildon Park  being first documented way back in 1311 and next a Manor being built in the 17^th century .A century later Francis Sykes of the East India Company made his way home from India with considerable amount of fortunes and decided to built a huge home like the other wealthy who had returned from Hindustan like Warren Hastings and  Lord Clive , furthermore this Berkshire area was nicknamed –English Hindoostan ! So he acquired the Basildon property in 1771 and built this grand  Villa for entertainment purposes to further his political ambitions .

 Investigations into his dubious transactions in India led him to sell it in 1838 to liberal MP James Morrison. This was the beginning of the ‘golden period’ of Basildon that lasted till 1910 after which the House remained empty for 40 years ! As no buyers were found so parts of the beautiful plasterwork were sold to Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York ! It was saved from being completely dismantled by the newspaper tycoons – 2^nd Lord and Lady Iliffe when they bought the Basildon house in 1952. They painstakingly restored it with period furnishings and paintings and portraits as we were about to see today.

Basildon House – the Noble floor

Basildon Post-GreenChintzRoom

The Woods had cleared into acres of Parkland and the three storey high west façade of the glorious Basildon House came into view with a pediment  portico supported by colossal columns. We climbed few steps through the ground floor archway  to reach the front of the Grand Hall outside which we discarded our umbrellas . Before entering we turned around to view the emerald beauty of the Parks and Gardens stretched around us overlooking the Thames Valley.

The huge neo-classical style Entrance Hall had beautiful plasterwork on the walls and the roof and elegant furniture arranged around its walls . Each room had a printed newspaper- like sheet ‘Basildon Post’ which expressed its individual History and a Collection- Highlight depicting important displays to look out for , reminiscent of the Iliffe – newspaper connection .We were very impressed with this idea. 

The Entertainment rooms at Basildon Park 

A photograph of the cast of the famous TV Serial Downton Abbey being shot at Basildon House

Further we were told by the friendly volunteer that the first floor of the house  held the main Entertainment rooms of the house so was referred to as the ‘Piano Nobile’- the Noble floor ! Undoubtedly  the First floor was the correct choice for the filming of the Downton Abbey’s Grantham House that is described as a ‘sort of old palace’ according to its writer Julian Fellowes. Consequently during filming most of the first floor rooms were used. This Hall had been adorned with massive display of silk flowers during a wedding scene in serial ! I could only envisage its beauty.

We moved through the gilded doors to the attractive Staircase hall in the centre of the house which held the Great Staircase with splendid gilded floral wrought iron rails. No wonder it was so grand as we discovered that this Hall was originally created as an additional  party area . I could imagine the guests mingling with each other here having easy access to the Octagonal Drawing room as well as the Entrance Hall. The Portuguese rugs and a massive glass wrought –iron Lantern on the ceiling drew attention .

The maroon felt Octagonal Drawing room

Next we eagerly headed for the Octagonal Drawing room ahead that was done up in neo-classical decorations too with magnificent maroon felt-walls, sparkling crystal chandelier and gold gilded ceiling whose large windows held dazzling Parkland view . This room was the key part of the filming of the serial Downton Abbey as Grantham house in London. An album with photographs of  the shooting scenes was on display for us to relate to situations and characters better. On our right was the Green Drawing room called so after its green silk walls creatively made by expert seamstress Lady Iliffe from valuable old curtains! It was adorned by an original white marble Fireplace too.

Dining room to Ballroom 

We entered the Dining room on our left  with its geometrical panels of ornate plasterwork on ceilings and walls – depicting classical scene in Grisaille – grey paintings like a sculpture . Most of its original mirrors, ceiling and other decorations can be seen in the Basildon room in the New York hotel. Today it has been refurbished to look the closest to the original and I could visualize a large number of guests sitting on the Dining table where  Francis Sykes Dinner service-pieces were used for serving between 1765- 70,then the Morrison family crockery and later those of Iliffes  that were all displayed. 

As we stood admiring the photo Albums related to the TV serial Downton Abbey a friendly volunteer narrated an incident about the Wedding scene filming of Rose’s wedding when this room had been modified into a flower loaded Ballroom . We remembered watching the episode .After the shooting was over all the flowers were left behind at the Basildon Park to be disposed off. What a happy day the Volunteers had when they carried as many flowers as they could to their homes and filled them up for days to come !

The Library 

It was amusing to know that the Library was part of the ‘masculine side’ of the House and created next to Sir Francis Sykes Study cum Dressing room where he could ascent from his Bedroom on the second floor. The ‘Basildon Post’ in the Library stated that in those times when guests arrived at a House, the ladies waited in the Entrance Hall while the men waited in the Library.  The Library was projected as the Study in TV serial Downton Abbey.

 Up the Grand Staircase – the Rooms with Views

Back in the Hall with the Grand Staircase which we had visited earlier ,we climbed up to an array of splendid unique Bedrooms – Lady Iliffe’ s bedroom, the Crimson bedroom, Shell bedroom, Bamboo bedroom ,Green Chintz room and few more. 

The maroon bedroom with a handmade floor throw made by Lady Iliffe

The best part of the Crimson room is the Crimson Bed with matching furnishings originally made for the 3^rd Earl of Ashburnham but bought by Lady Iliffe in 1959. Additionally noticeable is the handmade rug made by Lady Iliffe herself depicting the flowers in Basildon Park ! Additionally we read in the Basildon Post that during Sir Francis Sykes’s time the walls were decorated with India Paper brought from there.

While in the Bamboo room we mused about the origins of the Beds and furniture. It was surely oriental but was not completely North-east Indian, Chinese or Japanese . Also mentionable is the use of wood from the Coromandal coast of India in the cabinets in the passage !

As the name suggests the Shell room is a vast collection of atypical Shells and items created out of Shells from Lady Iliffe’s shell-set and those she purchased from others.

Lady Iliffe’s Pink bedroom

The pretty light Pink bedroom of Lady Iliffe could be any woman’s dream, the floral bed set in a vaulted enclosure was the highlight. Next was her Bathroom which was very large as it had been a Bedroom once maybe during the time of Prince Regent’s visit to Basildon Park in 1813.

Nobab style Indian Homes 

Absorbing the spectacular views outside we headed for the Tea room downstairs. Its walls displayed  a collection of black and white sketches of 12 ‘Nobab style Indian Homes’ around here because these grand homes resemble homes of Nawabs in India! We were informed that some picnic scenes of the serial Downton Abbey were also filmed in this Parkland dotted with Beech, Chestnut and Lime trees . The Cast liked the Basildon Park a lot and rested under the trees in between shots. Later we sat relaxing on the similar Garden chairs as the crew imagining the roller-coaster journey of Basildon Park from the early days of the East India Company to the filming of globally sensational TV serial Downton Abbey.