Visit to Chawton, Hants

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Visit to Chawton, Hants

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1Andrew-Constantine
nov. 23, 2014, 11:13 am

I went to Chawton yesterday and spent a couple of hours going over Jane Austen's House Museum. I think it is my favourite place to visit and it never fails to move me. The room guides are very well informed and clearly love the place and enjoy meeting visitors. I had not realised before just how good the Museum Bookshop is and I went away with a haul of Jane Austen related books. They had some nearly new copies of the Cambridge (hopefully definitive) edition of her writings at a decent discount.

While at Chawton, it's worth visiting the local parish church where Jane worshipped (she was of course a devout Anglican) and which has the tombs of both Jane's mother and her sister Cassendra.

2MarthaJeanne
nov. 23, 2014, 12:16 pm

There is also a lovely Austen Museum in Bath. That is not in the actual house she lived in, but I found it very informative and fun.

3Andrew-Constantine
nov. 23, 2014, 1:11 pm

I can understand why Jane found the move to Bath so upsetting that she fainted on hearing the news. She was after all presented by her father with the surprise decision made without any tact or even a warning.

So at short notice, the family were selling up at Steventon and almost all of Jane's own books and furniture had to be sold. Whereas Jane loved the beautiful soft Hampshire countryside, the white dazzling glare of the then new buildings of Bath and all the noise of such a very busy town must have been an upsetting shock to her. Her father in moving the family to Bath for his retirement was of course also giving up his main sources of income so she and her mother and sister were embarking on a new life with an uncertain future.

Jane was to use her detailed knowledge of Bath in 'Persuasion', 'Northanger Abbey', 'Sense and Sensibility' to good effect.

4MarthaJeanne
nov. 23, 2014, 2:42 pm

It was so much fun walking down streets that I knew from Austen and Heyer! And of course the books are more fun now, too!