Jane Austen's House — Attraction in East Hampshire

The excitement starts with the planning process really - more so if you have a Jane Austen fan at home. I am an avid reader - but not a great fan of period classic love stories. My not-a-teen-ager-any-more daughter is from another species.

So she turned pink with excitement the moment she woke up. A quick train ride took us to a picturesque town called Alton. No taxi was available at the station on a Sunday! So we took a bus (make sure you have a contact-less credit card or change to buy tickets on the bus - approximately 2 pounds).

Get off the bus and a nice short walk takes you to the village of Chawton (my daughter was breathing fast by now) and a few more steps takes you to the Jane Austen house on the left side of a little square (there was no stopping her at this point).

Go to the museum shop and buy your tickets (valid for one year - so, don't lose them) and start exploring the beautiful house that the Austen family lived in.

The house is the same but the furniture are mostly gone. They imagined what the furniture must have been and re-decorated the place. Nevertheless, you get the creaking floorboards under your feet and feel the excitement. Some of Jane's personal effects survive - you get to see them. Some period costumes are left in the drawing room for you to take pictures in, if you like.

There is a small little pub and a small little cafe on the other side of the road. They tend to get crowded - so, carry your food or be prepared to wait a little.

The return bus does not go through the same route - you will have to walk about a mile (follow Google's advice). This walk takes you through a charming road that has some beautiful houses...

Experience the house & neighborhood where Jane Austen wrote or revised her 6 major works in her last years of life. Stand next to the small round writing table she actually used, and visit her cozy bedroom. Learn about Jane's family & friends, who inspired some of her literary characters, her writing process, and costumes and customs of her times. Well curated gift and book shop.

Walk the country lanes following in Jane's steps, and visit the ancient stone St Nicholas Church where she and her sister Cassandra worshipped. This compact area is worth a visit for history & literary lovers - this is the real inspiration for Bridgerton & regency romances! Thatched roof cottages, 13th C church, Chawton manor house, rolling fields, fences, walled gardens, a lovely tea room & lively pub in a real working village.

Book your JA house admissions tickets online in advance. Tour the small house at your own pace, with knowledgeable volunteers on each floor providing intros to the collections, house & Austen family who lived here, and answering your questions. The non-profit that owns the house have recently found swatches of the historic botanical wallpapers original to the house and installed the recreated papers in many rooms, so it's delightfully decorated. Jane's well-off brother gave the house to his mother & his sisters for their use, as his own large Chawton House is nearby.

I visited on a quiet Sat in November, with only a handful of other visitors there in low season. But the house staff are gearing up for Jane's 250th birthday year, starting Dec 16, 2024, with special events running all 2025 to celebrate, analyze & read Jane Austen, a great writer,...

It seems Jane had at least two brothers who served in the Navy at the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries and because of their status as Admirals and the fact they lived into their seventies much of the memorabilia relates to them. That and the fact that Jane being female no expectation of any greatness was envisaged for her so there is a paucity of memorial material assigned to her. There is displayed a Gold Ring set with a Turquoise stone which has its provenance recorded by three documents in a framed display which begs the question why more ephemeral and vulnerable items such as a lace collar said to be made by her hand needs no similar attribution. A beautiful bed cover hand stitched by Mrs Austen and her two girls Jane and Cassandra is worth seeing at any price even without accompanying provenance. Many of the pictures have the appearance of being copies as they don’t have a authentic appearance looking as they do like washed out Xerox copies or colour prints on Melamine. So despite congratulating the volunteers for being so friendly and dedicated, one leaves feeling that the experience was short on Jane Austen’s life memorabilia and that poor quality images have been displayed in place of the original letters and prints. Despite all this I will return again and again cos along with her contemporary Horatio Nelson I’m so full of admiration for them both. By the way the fire places are small and modest so the Austen’s did not like a big blaze, and the withdrawing room faces full south with the attendant carriage traffic passing to interrupt...