Featured photo: Jane Austen’s House at Chawton, Hampshire County, England, filled with period furnishings and the author’s memorabilia.
Story and Photos by Monique Burns.
In search of Jane Austen, the English author who penned classics like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, most people head to Bath, less than two hours west of London. There the 18th–century beau monde came to dance, attend concerts, flirt with suitable mates, and “take the waters” at ancient Roman springs. Briefly a Bath resident, Austen set two of her six novels there: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.
But Bath is only part of Jane Austen’s story. More country mouse than city slicker, Jane spent most of her life in her beloved Hampshire County, just east of Bath. In Steventon village for her first 26 years, she penned three of her best–loved novels there—Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Sense and Sensibility. In the Chawton cottage now known as Jane Austen’s House, she wrote Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion. She also was a frequent visitor to nearby Alton, today the setting each June for the Jane Austen Regency Week with its elaborately costumed Regency Ball. Finally, in Winchester, the beloved author was laid to rest in the city’s historic 11th–century cathedral.
In Hampshire for a week or a fortnight, you can visit some of England’s most venerable towns and cities, and ramble through acres of gently rolling farmlands shaded by ancient oaks and elms. In the evenings, retreat to sprawling country–house hotels set on impossibly green lawns strewn with horseshoes and croquet mallets, and savor dinners at welcoming pubs and restaurants serving innovative farm–to–table dishes along with local ales, award–winning English sparkling wines, and bespoke gins distilled with home–grown botanicals.
Before heading to Great Britain, go online to purchase a BritRail train pass, taking you from London to virtually all Jane Austen’s former stomping grounds. Or, if you’re comfortable motoring on the left side of the road, rent a car on arrival in London or once you’re in Hampshire.
British Airways, the national flag carrier, flies direct to London from 26 U.S. gateways, including New York–JFK, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C. in the east; Austin, Dallas–Ft. Worth, Houston and Phoenix in the southwest, and Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland and San Francisco in the west.
From London’s Heathrow Airport, take the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station. (Or, from London’s Gatwick Airport, take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station, then hop on the Tube, or underground, and ride several stops to Paddington Station.) From Paddington Station, you’ll pick up a Great Western Railway train to your base in Hampshire county, Basingstoke, 1–2 hours west of London. Basingstoke has excellent rail connections to surrounding towns. If you’d like to add Bath to your Hampshire itinerary, it’s in neighboring Somerset county, a two–hour train ride west of Basingstoke.
Built in the 1880s, the four–star Audleys Wood Hotel is 10 minutes by taxi from Basingstoke station. Former residence of press lord Viscount Camrose, one–time owner of London’s Daily Telegraph, the brick Neo–Gothic Renaissance manor, trimmed in white gingerbread, sprawls across endless green lawns. Big fireplaces warm darkly paneled public rooms adorned with leaded–glass windows bearing stained–glass coats of arms.
Overlooking the rolling lawns is the Conservatory Restaurant, a spacious sun–filled dining room with floor–to–ceiling windows and a soaring cathedral ceiling of blond wood and iron beams. Hampshire County is known throughout Great Britain—and beyond—for its impressively rich larder of farm–raised pork, lamb and beef, fish from the purest chalk streams, and garden–fresh fruits and vegetables. At breakfast, lunch, dinner or afternoon tea, feast to your heart’s content on Modern British Cuisine made from locally sourced ingredients.
In the evening, start with a glass of berry–scented Coates & Seely Brut Rosé sparkling wine from Wooldings Vineyards in nearby Whitchurch. Or choose Pol Roger Brut Reserve Champagne, Sir Winston Churchill’s favorite. Sample Tunworth, a creamy Camembert–style cheese made less than a mile from the hotel, then savor rabbit terrine with prune ketchup and pickled vegetables, and a succulent main of venison haunch with blackberry sauce. For vegetarians, there’s plump gnocchi with cauliflower, golden raisins and quinoa. Gild the lily with parsnip cake with candied ginger, parsnip toffee and buttermilk sorbet.
When you finally pull yourself away from the table, you’ll find 68 well–appointed guest rooms and suites upstairs, offering big comfy beds, some four–poster, along with roomy closets and spacious marble baths.
From Basingstoke, die–hard Austen fans can visit Steventon, a 1½–hour train ride or an hour’s drive northwest. Alas, the rectory where Jane Austen was born in 1775 and spent her first 26 years was pulled down in 1824. Apart from the spreading lime tree planted by her brother James, the only trace of the Austens is the little whitewashed 12th–century Anglican church where her father preached.
The village of Chawton, site of Jane Austen’s House, is a 25–minute car ride or a 60–90 minute bus ride from Basingstoke. Surrounded by lush gardens, the big brick house is across from both The Greyfriar pub, serving everything from English fish & chips to Mediterranean mezze, and Cassandra’s Cup tea room, where you can tuck into scones and cakes, egg–and–watercress sandwiches or hearty beef brisket–and–coffee chili.
Chawton Cottage was a godsend for Jane Austen. After her father died in Bath in 1805, Jane, along with her mother and sister, briefly joined her brother, Francis, and his wife in waterside Southampton. Brother Edward, who inherited the estate of wealthy but childless relatives, later offered his mother and sisters Chawton Cottage, a 10–minute walk from his baronial manse, Chawton House.
Upon entering Jane Austen’s House, you’ll see the small Drawing Room with a mid–1800s mahogany–cased square piano, built by the noted Italian composer Muzio Clementi and much like the one Austen played. It’s next to a mahogany secretary designed, it’s believed, by illustrious British cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite in the 1780s. Topped by book shelves, it’s the same desk Reverend Austen used in Steventon Rectory where Jane (and her siblings) pored over his large library.
The Dining Parlour has a fireplace, polished wood dining table and chairs, and a cabinet filled with tea paraphernalia. Tucked into a corner is a small 12–sided walnut table—barely two feet high and not much more than 18 inches in diameter. Bought by Montagu Knight, a descendant of Jane’s brother, Edward, it’s where Austen revised her early novels, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Sense and Sensibility, and wrote her later works, Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion, on small scraps of paper.
Upstairs, Jane Austen’s Bedroom—the small, sunny room she shared with her sister Cassandra—has a canopy bed draped in white muslin and a closet with a blue–and–white china washbowl and chamber pot. Above the fireplace is “Hunter in a Landscape,” a pleasing 1802 watercolor by Cassandra, who, much to the delight of Austen scholars, also sketched her sister Jane.
The Admirals Room honors Jane’s two brothers who served in the Royal Navy. One nautical painting depicts HMS Canopus, which Francis Austen commanded in the early 19th century. Also on display: The ceremonial sword that Simón Bolívar presented to Charles Austen, commander of HMS Aurora, in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 11, 1832. Scholars believe that Charles, who eventually became a Rear Admiral, inspired the character of midshipman William Price, brother of Mansfield Park heroine Fanny Price. Francis—likely the model for Captain Harville, friend of Captain Wentworth in Persuasion—attained the Royal Navy’s highest rank, Admiral of the Fleet.
While at Chawton Cottage, don’t miss seeing Jane’s lovely turquoise and gold-plated ring. In 2012, American singer and Austen fan Kelly Clarkson bought it for £152,450. Declaring the ring a national treasure, Britain’s then Culture Minister Ed Vaizey barred its export, and a “Bring the Ring Home” campaign raised enough money to buy it back.
From Chawton Cottage, take a leisurely 10–minute stroll along the same dirt road that Jane Austen took to visit the hilltop manor where brother, Edward, his wife and their 11 children lived. Now Chawton House Library, the sprawling brick manse has over 100,000 books by writers like Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft, and oil paintings of women writers like the well–known George Sand, and the somewhat lesser–known Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who wrote poetry, fiction and travel accounts. Profiled in Keira Knightley’s 2008 movie “The Duchess,” Georgiana was several times a great–aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and shared a similarly tragic fate.
A frequent visitor to Chawton House, or the “great house,” as she called it, Jane Austen almost certainly sat at the big burnished wood table in the spacious dining room, decorated with Edward’s full–size portrait. Steps away, in Chawton Church, marble plaques honor Jane’s mother and sister, Cassandra, who lie buried in the churchyard.
From Jane Austen’s House, drive 10 minutes or take a 20–minute bus ride to the town of Alton, site of the annual Jane Austen Regency Week. The June festival includes Alton Regency Day, with a market fair and other events But the highlight is the Regency Ball. With locals dressed in 19th–century waistcoats and high-waisted Empire-style gowns, it’s reminiscent of the Netherfield ball where Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy meet in Pride and Prejudice.
Visitors are encouraged to purchase a ticket, dress up in their finery, Regency or not, and join the fun. If you’re unfamiliar with dances like “Vive le Roy” and the “Duke of Kent’s Waltz,” no worries. For a small fee, you can take the Regency Dancing Workshop earlier in the day.
On Alton’s Jane Austen Trail, 7 of the 8 stops are on the town’s shop–lined High Street. At No. 10, you’ll find the former offices of Austen, Gray and Vincent, a bank that Jane’s brother, Henry, ran between 1806 and 1811. At Nos. 31–33, the Swan Hotel, with a pub and guestrooms still open to the public, Jane picked up her mail and occasionally caught the coach to London. Less happily, No. 4 is the home of William Curtis, whom Jane called her “Alton Apothy.” Curtis treated the author when she fell ill, possibly the victim of poisoning by arsenic, then used to treat arthritis.
While in Alton, consider riding the historic Watercress Line, a little green train that carried watercress from local farms to London in the 1800s. A member of the brassica family, including Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, watercress was known, even then, to be one of the planet’s most nutritious vegetables and 19th–century Londoners couldn’t get enough of it. Now a popular tourist attraction, the Watercress Line makes the pleasant 20–mile round–trip journey between the towns of Alton and Alresford, skirting Hampshire’s scenic South Downs National Park.
Back in Basingstoke by evening, head to Crookham Village and The Exchequer, 20 minutes away by car or taxi. Serving locally sourced specialties, the restaurant has several light–filled dining areas as well as several sunny patios perfect for lingering over a gin and tonic. Or choose English sparkling wine from award–winning Hattingley Valley Wines, which offers tours of its ultramodern facilities in Alresford, 18 miles southwest.
The next morning, head to Winchester, a 15–minute train ride south of Basingstoke, Great Britain’s ancient Saxon capital and now the county seat; it’s where Jane Austen spent her final days.
To get a sense of the city’s greatness, as well as its sylvan beauty, stroll along The Weirs. Encircled by gardens, the tree–shaded path skirts the city’s old Roman walls and the River Itchen, considered, along with the nearby River Test, to be among England’s finest chalk streams.
The river’s crystalline waters are perfect for trout fishing. Steps from the town center, in a 600–year–old half–timbered house with low–beamed ceilings and cozy rooms, The Chesil Rectory is one of the best places to sample trout and other Hampshire delicacies like slow–roasted lamb from nearby Bere Mill Butchery, Farm, and Gardens.
The River Itchen’s gin–clear waters are also perfect for distilling gin. Taste Hampshire–made gins at the Cabinet Rooms, a stylish café–bar that serves breakfast, light lunches and evening tidbits, including standouts like eg crumpets with streaky bacon and grilled harissa–roasted cauliflower “toasties.”
You also can tour and taste locally made gins at nearby Winchester Distillery. If you still haven’t gotten your fill of that beloved British firewater, plan to attend two annual events: Winchester Cocktail Week in June and The Ginchester Fête in November.
The Weirs road continues to College Street, home of 600–year–old Winchester College. A British “public school” comparable to top–ranked American boarding schools like St. Paul’s School and Phillips Exeter Academy, Winchester College has educated such British luminaries as early Everest mountaineer George Mallory and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Steps away, in a three–story, pale yellow house, 41–year–old Jane Austen gave up the ghost on July 18, 1817. Stand outside and pay your respects to the great author, then follow College Street five minutes northwest to 11th–century Winchester Cathedral. Europe’s longest Gothic cathedral, it’s the resting place of early English monarchs (including two of William the Conqueror’s four sons), venerable bishops (including St. Swithun, Winchester’s Patron Saint) and other notables (including 17th–century writer Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler).
In the north nave aisle, beneath a commemorative stained–glass window, Jane Austen’s last earthly remains rest beneath a large slate slab, its long inscription recalling, in part, “the benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, and the extraordinary endowments of her mind.”
IF YOU GO: For flights from the U.S. to London, visit British Airways (www.britishairways.com). For Great Western Railway (www.gwr.com) tickets, contact BritRail (www.britrail.com) or Rail Europe at (www.raileurope.com). For more on Audleys Wood Hotel in Basingstoke, visit (www.handpickedhotels.co.uk). For information on Jane Austen’s House, visit (www.janeaustens.house). To learn about other Jane Austen sites in Hampshire, visit www.janeaustentrail.org.uk. For details on Alton’s Jane Austen Regency Week and Regency Ball tickets, visit www.janeaustenregencyweek.co.uk. For more on the Watercress Line railway, log on to www.watercressline.co.uk. For information on the Cabinet Rooms, visit www.cabinetrooms.com. For more on Winchester Cocktail Week, log on to www.winchestercocktailweek.co.uk. For tours of Hattingley Valley Wines, visit www. hattingleyvalley.com. For dining, consider The Exchequer (www.exchequercrookham.co.uk) in Crookham Village near Basingstoke. In Winchester, try The Chesil Rectory (www.chesilrectory.co.uk). To learn about July’s month–long Hampshire Food Festival, plus restaurants, lodgings, food purveyors and other events, visit www.hampshirefare.co.uk.