Try free for 30 days
-
Downton Shabby
- One American's Ultimate DIY Adventure Restoring His Family's English Castle
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
High Tea and the Low Down
- An American's Unfiltered Life in the UK
- By: Claire Craig Evans
- Narrated by: Claire Craig Evans, Ben Evans
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When American Claire Craig Evans married a charming British man, there was a cost for the snappy banter and countless offers of tea: she had to uproot life as she knew it and relocate to the UK. Who wouldn’t want to move to an enchanted island where mysterious women with dewy complexions made jam in thatched cottages with millennia-old lichen attached?
-
Dispatches from the Gilded Age
- A Few More Thoughts on Interesting People, Far-Flung Places, and the Joys of Southern Comforts
- By: Julia Reed, Everett Bexley - editor
- Narrated by: Carol Monda
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the middle of the night on March eleventh, 1980, the phone rang in Julia Reed’s Georgetown dorm. It was her boss at Newsweek, where she was an intern. He told her to get in her car and drive to her alma mater, the Madeira School. Her former headmistress, Jean Harris, had just shot Dr. Herman Tarnower, The Scarsdale Diet Doctor. Julia didn’t flinch. She dressed, drove to Madeira, got the story—and her first byline—and the new American Gilded Age was off and running.
-
The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright
- By: Clare Swatman
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When mum of two Beth moves out of her beloved marital home and into an unloved and unkempt cottage, she can’t help but feel demoralised. Faced with months of DIY and dust, her children Jacob and Olivia aren’t impressed either. But when Beth finds a box of letters while she’s clearing out the children’s room, things start to look up. The correspondence is decades old, between agony aunt Evelyn and those in need of solace. Intrigued as to why the letters have been kept safe all these years, Beth can’t resist reading them.
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic.
-
-
Such an interesting take on the Astor story.
- By Anonymous User on 27-03-2024
-
Rough Draft
- A Memoir
- By: Katy Tur
- Narrated by: Katy Tur
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a box from her mother showed up on Katy Tur’s doorstep, months into the pandemic and just as she learned she was pregnant with her second child, she didn’t know what to expect. The box contained thousands of hours of video—the work of her pioneering helicopter journalist parents. They grew rich and famous for their aerial coverage of Madonna and Sean Penn’s secret wedding, the Reginald Denny beating in the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and O.J. Simpson’s notorious run in the white Bronco.
-
Thank You for Your Servitude
- Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission
- By: Mark Leibovich
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller This Town, the eyewitness account of how the GOP collaborated with Donald Trump to transform Washington’s “swamp” into a gold-plated hot tub—and a onetime party of rugged individualists into a sycophantic personality cult.
-
-
A recommended read
- By Marlene L. on 31-08-2022
-
High Tea and the Low Down
- An American's Unfiltered Life in the UK
- By: Claire Craig Evans
- Narrated by: Claire Craig Evans, Ben Evans
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When American Claire Craig Evans married a charming British man, there was a cost for the snappy banter and countless offers of tea: she had to uproot life as she knew it and relocate to the UK. Who wouldn’t want to move to an enchanted island where mysterious women with dewy complexions made jam in thatched cottages with millennia-old lichen attached?
-
Dispatches from the Gilded Age
- A Few More Thoughts on Interesting People, Far-Flung Places, and the Joys of Southern Comforts
- By: Julia Reed, Everett Bexley - editor
- Narrated by: Carol Monda
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the middle of the night on March eleventh, 1980, the phone rang in Julia Reed’s Georgetown dorm. It was her boss at Newsweek, where she was an intern. He told her to get in her car and drive to her alma mater, the Madeira School. Her former headmistress, Jean Harris, had just shot Dr. Herman Tarnower, The Scarsdale Diet Doctor. Julia didn’t flinch. She dressed, drove to Madeira, got the story—and her first byline—and the new American Gilded Age was off and running.
-
The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright
- By: Clare Swatman
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When mum of two Beth moves out of her beloved marital home and into an unloved and unkempt cottage, she can’t help but feel demoralised. Faced with months of DIY and dust, her children Jacob and Olivia aren’t impressed either. But when Beth finds a box of letters while she’s clearing out the children’s room, things start to look up. The correspondence is decades old, between agony aunt Evelyn and those in need of solace. Intrigued as to why the letters have been kept safe all these years, Beth can’t resist reading them.
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic.
-
-
Such an interesting take on the Astor story.
- By Anonymous User on 27-03-2024
-
Rough Draft
- A Memoir
- By: Katy Tur
- Narrated by: Katy Tur
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a box from her mother showed up on Katy Tur’s doorstep, months into the pandemic and just as she learned she was pregnant with her second child, she didn’t know what to expect. The box contained thousands of hours of video—the work of her pioneering helicopter journalist parents. They grew rich and famous for their aerial coverage of Madonna and Sean Penn’s secret wedding, the Reginald Denny beating in the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and O.J. Simpson’s notorious run in the white Bronco.
-
Thank You for Your Servitude
- Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission
- By: Mark Leibovich
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller This Town, the eyewitness account of how the GOP collaborated with Donald Trump to transform Washington’s “swamp” into a gold-plated hot tub—and a onetime party of rugged individualists into a sycophantic personality cult.
-
-
A recommended read
- By Marlene L. on 31-08-2022
-
Ashton Hall
- A Novel
- By: Lauren Belfer
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh, Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a close relative falls ill, Hannah Larson and her young son, Nicky, join him for the summer at Ashton Hall, a historic manor house outside Cambridge, England. A frustrated academic whose ambitions have been subsumed by the challenges of raising her beloved child, Hannah longs to escape her life in New York City, where her marriage has been upended by a recently discovered and devastating betrayal.
-
A Rosie Life in Italy 4
- Potatoes, Pizza and Poteen
- By: Rosie Meleady
- Narrated by: Madeleine Brolly
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having three generations of her family living under the same roof was once part of the Italian dream for Rosie. But when her party-loving, whiskey-drinking, poker-playing 85-year-old mother moves over from Ireland to Italy, Rosie’s longed for dolce vita in Umbria is anything but sweet.
-
-
Rosie Story continues
- By Miss E J Budge on 24-01-2024
-
(Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living
- By: Mark Greenside
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every year upon arriving in Plobien, the small Breton town where he spends his summers, American writer Mark Greenside picks back up where he left off with his faux-pas-filled Francophile life. Mellowed and humbled, but not daunted (OK, slightly daunted), he faces imminent concerns: What does he cook for a French person? Who has the right-of-way when entering or exiting a roundabout? Where does he pay for a parking ticket? And most dauntingly of all, when can he touch the tomatoes?
-
The White Ship
- Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream
- By: Charles Spencer
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By 1120, Henry was perhaps the most formidable ruler in Europe, with an enviable record on the battlefield, immense lands and wealth and unprecedented authority in his kingdoms. Everything he had worked so hard for was finally achieved, and he was ready to hand it on to his beloved son and heir, William Ætheling. Henry I and his retinue set out first. The White Ship - considered the fastest afloat - would follow, carrying the young prince. Spoilt and arrogant, William had plied his comrades and crew with drink from the minute he stepped aboard....
-
-
A récit of staggering detail and colour
- By robert head on 27-06-2022
-
The Midcoast
- A Novel
- By: Adam White
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s spring in the tiny town of Damariscotta, a tourist haven on the coast of Maine known for its oysters and antiques. Andrew, a high school English teacher recently returned to the area, has brought his family to Ed and Steph Thatch’s sprawling riverside estate to attend a reception for the Amherst women’s lacrosse team. Back when they were all teenagers, Andrew never could have predicted that Ed, descended from a long line of lobstermen, or Steph, a decent student until she dropped out to start a family, would ever send a daughter to a place like Amherst.
-
Your Table Is Ready
- Tales of a New York City Maître D'
- By: Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
- Narrated by: Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the glamorous to the entitled, from royalty to the financially ruined, everyone who wanted to be seen—or just to gawk—at the hottest restaurants in New York City came to places Michael Cecchi-Azzolina helped run. His phone number was passed around among those who wanted to curry favor, during the decades when restaurants replaced clubs and theater as, well, theater in the most visible, vibrant city in the world. Besides dropping us back into a vanished time, Your Table Is Ready takes us places we’d never be able to get into on our own.
-
-
The world of high end restaurants
- By Amazon Customer on 20-02-2023
-
A Rosie Life in Italy
- Why Are We Here?
- By: Rosie Meleady
- Narrated by: Madeleine Brolly
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wedding planner Rosie is struggling with her grey, rain-soaked life in Ireland. When her landlord suddenly doubles the rent, Rosie is left with no choice but to pack up her family, two dogs, and possessions into a 20-year-old camper van and head off in search of her own happy ending in sunny Italy. While Rosie is determined to create the perfect life for her family in Italy, despite a hurricane, a raucous family dispute, and a little thing called a global pandemic to top it all off, she begins to realize that the Italian dream may be too big for her.
-
-
Relatable
- By Cat on 21-02-2024
-
Altared
- A Tale of Renovating a Medieval Church in Tuscany
- By: Kyle Tackwell Ball
- Narrated by: Pamela Almand
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An invasion of mysterious bugs, the discovery of hundreds of skeletons in the backyard and occasional visitations from a ghost who smoked Marlboro Lights weren't what I had in mind when I dreamed of owning a home in Tuscany. My search for a quaint country house in move-in condition near Florence instead led to the purchase of an abandoned church we fondly referred to as "The Italian Money Pit", and the project took several years to complete.
-
Secret City
- The Hidden History of Gay Washington
- By: James Kirchick
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 26 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret “too loathsome to mention” held enormous, terrifying power.
-
Elizabeth
- By: Gyles Brandreth
- Narrated by: Gyles Brandreth
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This intimate, personal biography of Queen Elizabeth II tells the story of her remarkable life, reign and times, from a perspective unlike any other. Gyles Brandreth writes the Queen's tale candidly with grace and sensitivity from the view of someone who met her, talked with her and kept a record of those conversations. Brandreth knew the Queen's husband well and knows the new King and Queen Consort.
-
-
Outstanding tribute to HMTQ
- By Michelle Moreira on 13-12-2022
-
Deliberate Cruelty
- Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century
- By: Roseanne Montillo
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Ann Woodward shot her husband, banking heir Billy Woodward, in the middle of the night in 1955, her life changed forever. Though she claimed she thought he was a prowler, few believed the woman who had risen from charismatic showgirl to popular socialite. Everyone had something to say about the scorching scandal afflicting one of the most rich and famous families of New York City, but no one was more obsessed with the tale than Truman Capote.
-
-
A great read and narration!
- By Cathryn Harsant on 26-02-2023
-
Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
- A Royal Spyness Novella
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
-
-
Fun little listen.
- By Alanna Lever on 14-12-2018
Publisher's Summary
HGTV meets Downton Abbey! A ready-for-TV story—with charm and humor in abundance—about a Los Angeles producer who moves to England to save his ancestral castle from ruin.
Hollywood producer Hopwood DePree had been told as a boy that an ancestor—who he was named for—had left his family’s English castle in the 1700s to come to America. One night after some wine and a visit to Ancestry.com, Hopwood discovered a photograph of a magnificent English estate with a familiar name: Hopwood Hall, a 60-room, 600-year-old grand manor on 5,000 acres. And with that, Hopwood DePree’s life took an almost fairytale turn.
Hopwood Hall, in northwest England, was indeed his family’s ancestral home. It had been occupied continuously by the Hopwood family for five centuries until the last remaining male heirs were killed in World War I. Since then, the Hall had fallen gradually into disrepair and was close to collapse. When Hopwood visited, he discovered trees growing in the chimneys, holes in the roof, and water sluicing down walls. It would take many millions to save the Hall—millions that Hopwood certainly didn’t have—but despite the fact that he lived in Los Angeles and had no construction skills, Hopwood DePree came to a conclusion: He would save Hopwood Hall.
Downton Shabby—the name Hopwood coined for the glorious ruin—traces Hopwood DePree’s adventures as he gives up his life in Hollywood and moves permanently to England to save Hopwood Hall from ruin. But the task is far too big for one person, of course. Hopwood discovers that the Hall comes with an unforgettable cast of new neighbors he can call on for help—from the electrician whose mum had fond memories of working at the Hall to gruff caretaker Bob, and the local aristocrats who (sort of) come to accept Hopwood as one of their own. Together, as they navigate the trials and triumphs of trying to save an actual castle, Hopwood finds himself ever further from the security of his old life, but comes to realize that, actually, he’s never been closer to home.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.