Jane Austen Country

Jane Austen spent most of her life in the historic and beautiful county of Hampshire. Our route starts in the village of Steventon where Jane lived for her first 25 years. We will progress to explore the area near her next home where the Jane Austen Museum is today, Chawton. We will finish in Winchester where she is buried in the cathedral.

After arriving at Basingstoke, we rendezvous at Oakley Hall, an elegant 18th Century Manor House Hotel in the village of Oakley. Former owners of the house, the Bramstons, were good friends of the Austen family. It is suggested that Jane Austen’s novel “Mansfield Park” is based on Oakley hall and that Lady Bertram was based on Lady Bramston.

Our first walk takes us to Steventon where Jane spent her first 25 years. We ramble in her footsteps, along paths close to the rectory and through the gentle rolling countryside she described in her novels. The Rectory itself was pulled down soon after her death but the 12th Century church where she worshipped stands unchanged. The Austens had a wide circle of friends whom she often visited; we see the homes of some of their closest friends such as Deane House and Ashe House, where Jane received a proposal of marriage. After a pub lunch, we drive to the Vynne, built in the 16th Century and visited by Henry VIII on at least three occasions. It was home to the Chute family who were one of the most respected families and also part of the Austen’s circle (although Jane was not particularly fond of Eliza Chute). There is a gentle two mile walk through the woods in the estate after a visit inside the mansion. On Monday evening we have a pre-dinner talk from a Jane Austen expert.

We set off for the pretty village of Chawton where Jane moved when she was 33. There we will view the tiny cottage, homely and comfortable with a pretty garden where she wrote “Mansfield Park”, “Emma” and “Persuasion”. After lunch, our afternoon walk takes us past the church, where Cassandra and Mrs Austen’s graves are found, to Chawton House known as "The Great House”. At this fine Elizabethan mansion, we have a private tour of the extensive grounds followed by afternoon tea in the house. We transfer to our next hotel in Petersfield where, before dinner, an historical clothing expert will reveal secrets of corsetry and costumes in Jane Austen's era.

Today our walk focusses on the pretty village of Selbourne where Gilbert White, the famous 18th Century naturalist and author, lived and who was well-known to Jane’s father. We walk through one of Hampshire's famous "Hangers" and then descend via the famous zig-zag path into the village for lunch in the local pub.  We explore the house & extensive garden before resuming our afternoon walk. In the evening we will enjoy a Regency song recital before dinner.

We start our day strolling through Chawton Woods, a favourite haunt of Jane & her sister Cassandra, towards Fourmarks where we board the restored steam train on the Watercress line. We have lunch in the village of Itchen Abbas in a local coaching inn, then our walk follows a beautiful river path into Winchester. We rendezvous in our hotel for our Farewell Dinner.

Jane came to Winchester in 1817 where she lived at number 8 College Street to be near to her doctor who was attached to the local hospital. Suffering from the incurable Addison’s disease, she wrote letters and poetry until only a very short time before her death. Her funeral took place in the magnificent Cathedral on the 24th July 1817. We will see where she lived and walk around this historic city, finishing at her memorial in the cathedral.