Care home residents drink champagne and eat quail eggs at Downton Abbey day

A care home in Dorset has treated its residents to a day of living like the characters in TV drama Downton Abbey, with champagne for breakfast and quail eggs for lunch.

Bourne View resident Judy Lynall, right, in Downton Abbey costume with Companionship Team members Karen Grant A’ Court and Paul Wookey.

The staff and even some of the residents dressed up as servants and landed gentry for a murder mystery afternoon of intrigue and deception, as Colten Care’s Bourne View care home in Poole gave their residents an insight into life on a country estate in the post-Edwardian era.

Karen Grant A' Court, companionship team leader, said: “This was a marvellous excuse to dress up and play aristocrats for the day.

“While observing all the rules around social distancing and Covid prevention, everyone had great fun playing members of the 1920s landed gentry and the domestic servants who worked for them.”

The day began with a 1920s-style cocktail reception featuring Mimosas - champagne and chilled orange - with sherry and soft drink options. This was followed by lunch in the home’s Hepburn restaurant consisting of recipe ideas from a Downton Abbey cookbook prepared by Chef Lorna Parsons.

On the menu were quails eggs, stuffed tomatoes, pork chops with mustard sauce, rustic potato cakes, Budapest cabbage and fruit and mint jelly. After lunch, residents had to solve a series of clues so they could track down the villain in a murder mystery game.

Staff and some of the residents dressed up as Lady Violet Crawley, the family matriarch played on screen by Maggie Smith, and the Earl and Countess of Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern.

Resident Judy Lynall who took part in the dressing up day, said: “I thought it was great that all the staff dressed up for the occasion. Everyone pulled out the stops. We had a wonderful day.”

Written by novelist and screenwriter Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey ran for six seasons on ITV between 2010 and 2015.

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