Stately Homes in Gingerbread

This morning, I learned that, to celebrate the imminent return of the TV series Downton Abbey, Martha Stewart has created a gingerbread replica of Highclere Castle, the stately home that is the setting for the series. You can watch the process of creating a gingerbread Downton Abbey and get directions for making your own here. (It only took the Martha Stewart team 34 hours to make it. There's still time for you to put one together before Christmas.) 

The gingerbread Downton Abbey reminded me that a dozen or so years ago, Reggie Young created a gingerbread replica of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House for Historic Hudson, aided and abetted (in rolling out the dough at least) by a small staff of Christmas elves, among them Peter Lacovara (who tipped me off about the gingerbread Downton Abbey) and me. 

The house was displayed at Rural Residence during Winter Walk that year and raffled as a fund raiser for Historic Hudson and the effort to stabilize and preserve the remarkable house.
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