My Pemberley

Nine years ago, I settled down one evening with my mum and sister to watch a repeat of a 1995 drama. It had dancing, glittering candles, glistening jewels, intricate hair-dos, stately homes, bonnets - and sexy men on horseback. This television wonder? Pride and Prejudice. Its author? Jane Austen.

And thus started my love-affair with Austen's work. Every show about her, every book about her life and books, anything I could find on her was indulged in - and still is! In 2003 my sister, a friend and I wrote to the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, suggesting they hold Regency tea parties. They replied that they could not offer this service to the public due to room restriction at the time; but they offered us the day at the Centre dressed in authentic Austen attire with a Bath Chronicle journalist and photographer to publish us! It was an amazing day full of fan fluttering, pictures with toursits outside of the doors and experiencing heritage at first hand.

But the house I really wanted to experience was Jane's last home in Chawton, Hampshire. And today I finally realised my goal.

Setting off with my mum and sister, we drove past Stonehenge on the A303...Hmm. My feelings on Stonehenge are not positive - I saw as much as I wanted to from the front seat of my car, and do not wish to repeat my last experience of standing in the freezing cold on an exposed hill; for those who do not wish to do this either, here it is...

Anyway. We finally arrived (it is only 2 hours from Bath to Chawton) I took a moment to take it all in. It is a beautiful place. You can imagine what it must have looked like 200 years ago. Being me, I had not dressed for the cold and rain, but everything was warm and welcoming once we stepped inside, and cheap too.

The house was given to Jane and her mother and sister for their lifetime in 1809 by Jane's older brother, Edward Knight. Whilst living here she revised her manuscripts for (my personal favourites) Sense and Sensability and Pride and Prejudice and began Mansfield Park and Emma. Jane died in 1817 in a house in Winchester, leaving behind her home, her widowed mother, sister and many friends and close family.

When you walk through the first original door, you come into a room with benches, playing a video giving information about Austen's life. We passed through here in our enthusiasm to see the house.

In the courtyard of the estate, there is a Bakehouse. Inside were items such as a cornerstone from the home Jane Austen was born and grew up in, Steventon Rectory.



Jane Austen's horse cart



The Bakehouse


The garden was plain due to the winter season but peaceful despite the road on the other side of the stone wall. We did not enter the child-orientated learning centre due to the Closed sign so turned the corner to enter the kitchen of the house, pretty much dominated by Martha Lloyd, a woman who lived with Jane, her sister Cassandra and mother during their time at Chawton.
Here my sister and I looked into the interactive computer, and posed for some embaressing (and everlasting) photos.

And at last! The house! The first room of the downstairs contained the Drawing Room where Rev.Austen's original bookcase stood. Unfortunately photos couldn't be taken in here. Through the doorway we came to the Vestibule, where the front door was most likely originally found before a window replaced it. A lock of Jane's hair was kept in a drawer. The dining parlour came next which, until last year, contained the Knight family's china dinner set which had been in the house since 1949. Beside the window stood Jane's tiny writing table; I spent several minutes just staring at this item, in awe that it was here that so many hours of pleasure had been created in this corner, on this aged piece of wood.
A reading room used as a library for staff and visitors is the final room before stepping slowly up the creaking oak stairs to look out an airy window to the courtyard. Jane and Cassandra's room captivated me and I returned to it three times. There was a testimony from Jane's niece, describing her last visit to Jane when the bedroom became a sick room whilst on the opposite wall was an original letter from a sickly Winston Churchill describing his medicinal perscription of Pride and Prejudice.
Mrs Austen's room (or the family room), a dressing room and a corridor and alcove decorated with illustrations of Austen's works were interesting whilst the Admiral's Room contained memorabilia of Jane's two sailor brother's, Francis and Charles Austen. The dressing room was especially intriguing; it contained items found underneath the floorboards - DIY tools, rusted buckles, buttons, clasps, a pen knife, a plane, pipes, bottles - and a revolver.
Leaving my mum to peruse a book which had caught her eye, my sister and I spent 45 minutes (and too much money) in the beautiful gift shop where a Mr Darcy poster had to be purchased! There were books galore (several of which left with me!), caligraphy sets, dvds of her adaptations, the books themselves, and many other wonderful items.
Jane Austen's house was a lovely way to spend a winter Sunday. It is funded by entry fees, HLF funding, as well as the Descendents of Jane Austen, the Corporate Friends of the Jane Austen House Museum and Laura Ashley. I highly recommend that you visit it if you are a fan - even if you're not - and that you spend just a little time basking in the remenants of a home that welcomed one of the greatest authors of all time.


Me and my combination book :)