Call Upon Highclere, the Real ‘Downton Abbey’

Due to technical difficulties, my Yahoo Travel "Downton Abbey" coverage debuted after PBS's season 3 premiere this weekend. But it still reveals secret passages into the scandal-ridden world of Edwardian gentry and their staff.

Before the show, the stately home of Highclere struggled: Turrets crumbled, damp had rendered at least 50 rooms uninhabitable and the repair bill rang up at a daunting $19 million. Now up to 1,200 visitors descend on summer days — the crowd once peaked at 4,000 — plumping up the coffers as surely as marriage to an heiress would.