Downton Abbey: The Thirties – Episode 1: A July Morning

Downton Abbey: The Thirties — Episode 1
By Hugo Ashcombe

Habits are the refuge of the unimaginative, Mary. I have always preferred rituals — they require better shoes.

Welcome to Episode 1 of Downton Abbey: The Thirties — an original fan fiction continuation, written and produced independently. Not affiliated with the official Downton Abbey franchise.

It is July 1930, three weeks since Robert and Cora retreated to the Dower House, and Mary wakes to a quieter Downton — and a solicitor's letter she is not quite ready to open. She and Tom work through troubled estate accounts, confronting dairy prices that are quietly devastating the tenantry, while word arrives that the neighbouring Broughton Park has sold to an unknown London buyer. At the Dower House, Robert invents reasons to visit his old home; Cora quietly dispatches £2,400 to rescue her brother Harold from an old scandal; and Anna, visibly pregnant and due in August, settles into the garden while Bates reads childcare books in terrified silence.

This episode is yours to download and keep — one of the perks of supporting on Patreon. And if you love Downton, our sister channel Sleepbound carries an original prequel series set in the earlier years of the Abbey. Content Timing
00:00 – Welcome and settling in
0:39 – High Summer
40:56 – Soft music to drift away Support the show: Patreon
Watch on YouTube: Sleepbound Nights
Full audiobook library: sleepbound.net