One of the most widely read authors in English literature, Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817, in Winchester. The famous author left her mark and set her timeless novels in many places, and to mark the 200th anniversary of her death, a series of events – from garden tours to costume balls – are being staged across England. Here are five of the best places to follow in Austen's footsteps this year.
Steventon
Jane Austen was born on Dec. 16, 1775, the second daughter of Cassandra Leigh and George Austen, a rector, in Steventon, Hampshire. She spent the first 25 years of her life there and wrote the first drafts of the novels that were to become Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. Her birthplace, the rectory, no longer exists, but a giant lime tree planted by Austen's brother James remains at the spot where the family home once stood. St. Nicholas Church, which the family attended regularly for services, holds a bronze plaque dedicated to the author's memory as well as a monument in the chancel remembering James Austen, who also became a rector in Steventon. He is buried in the churchyard next to his second wife, Mary.
Sitting with Jane, June 17 to Aug. 31, 2017
On this public sculpture trail, you'll explore places and landscapes that influenced Austen's life and early novels. Sitting with Jane is made up of 24 "BookBenches" in and around Basingstoke, which is only 11 kilometres from Austen's birthplace. The sculptures were designed and painted by artists with their personal interpretation of the theme of Jane Austen.
Free; sittingwithjane.com.
Bath
Austen's life was interrupted when the family moved to Bath following the retirement of her father in 1800. Life became so busy for her in the famous spa town, with shopping, social visits and entertainment as well as frequent visits to family and friends, that her writing nearly came to a standstill compared with the productive years of 1795-99. The Austen family lived in 4 Sydney Place for three years. A number of buildings they frequented, such as the Bath Assembly Rooms and St. Swithin's Walcot, where Austen's parents were married and where her father is buried, are open to the public. Bath is the town most closely associated with the writer and a must for literature lovers.
Jane Austen Festival, Sept. 8-17, 2017
The annual festival has Northanger Abbey as this year's theme. Wear period costumes around the city during the promenades and the country dance at Bath's Guildhall, and dance your sense and sensibilities away at the famous Regency Costumed Masked Ball.
Tickets on sale from late June; janeaustenfestivalbath.co.uk
Jane Austen Centre
The centre, situated in an original Georgian townhouse, is dedicated to Bath's most famous resident and her connections with the city. You'll have the opportunity to dress in period costumes, have a traditional high tea and see a specially commissioned waxwork of Jane Austen created with the assistance of a renowned sculptor, an FBI-trained forensic artist and an award-winning costume designer.
Prices: $19 adults, $10 children; janeausten.co.uk
Southampton
After Austen's father died in Bath in 1805, the Austen women moved to Southampton in 1807 to share a house with Jane's brother Frank and his new bride, Mary. At the time, Southampton was an old but buzzing seaport. The family made excursions on the River Itchen; visited Netley Abbey, a picturesque ruin; took long walks through the Hampshire countryside and attended winter assemblies (dances) in the High Street Dolphin Hotel, which is still open today. Austen stopped writing during her two years in Southampton, but it is thought that some of the scenes in Mansfield Park, relating to the similar seafaring city of Portsmouth, are drawn from here.
Jane Austen Heritage Trail
Grab a leaflet and follow the footsteps of Jane Austen on this self-guided Heritage Trail which takes you around nine plaques in Southampton's Old Town, pointing out places such as her house in Castle Square.
Free; tudorhouseandgarden.com.
Chawton
In 1809, Austen moved to her last home, in Chawton, Alton, where she lived with her mother and sister Cassandra until 1817. In the village, which is regarded today as Jane Austen's literary home, the author led a quieter life and resumed novel-writing. The women lived in the former bailiff's house on the Chawton estate. The 17th-century red-brick building, now the Jane Austen's House Museum, features the drawing room and parlour where Austen wrote Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion, and revised Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey on a small round table.
Jane Austen's House Museum
Jane Austen’s House Museum.
Visit Hampshire
Besides the drawing room and Austen's bedroom, the museum also includes a room with memorabilia of her two brothers, Frank and Charles, as well as a quintessentially English rose garden and an extensive art collection. Events are scheduled all year round, from garden tours to linocut printmaking and letterpress workshops.
Prices: $14 adults, $7 children; jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk
Jane Austen Regency Week, June 17-25, 2017
Participants in the annual Jane Austen Regency Costumed Parade pass the Thermae Bath Spa on September 10, 2016 in Bath, England.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Embrace nine days of Jane Austen during the Regency Week with 29 events in Chawton and Alton including talks, singing, walks, dancing, house and garden tours, embroidery workshops, cream teas, film showings, cricket, suppers and music.
Prices vary per event; janeaustenregencyweek.co.uk
Winchester
In 1816, Austen began to feel increasingly unwell. However, she continued writing and began her last, unfinished work, Sanditon, in early 1817. Her condition worsened and in May, Cassandra took her to Winchester for treatment in the newly established hospital. The sisters rented lodgings at 8 College St., next to the cathedral, where Jane Austen died at the age of 41, on the morning of July 18, 1817. Her modest funeral was attended by only four people and she was laid to rest in the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral. While the original inscription on her tombstone only recorded her virtues and stoicism and not her writing, a brass plaque on the wall was added later and begins: "Jane Austen, known to many by her writings …"
A reader at the Jane Austen Centre on January 28, 2013 in Bath, England.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Mysterious Miss Austen, May 13-July 25, 2017
The centrepiece of this exhibition is five Jane Austen portraits, all together and under one roof for the first time, including one that has not been shown in public for more than 40 years. Additionally, you'll see on display first editions of her novels, personal letters and Austen's pelisse coat, the only garment worldwide with provenance that can be traced back to the author.
Free, at the Gallery, Winchester Discovery Centre; janeausten200.co.uk
Rain Jane, until August, 2017
Get your umbrella, take a brochure and find the trail of 12 Austen quotes appearing only in the rain in 39 locations across Winchester city centre.
Free.
The Jane Austen Story, until Dec. 31, 2017
This permanent exhibition beside Austen's grave in Winchester Cathedral covers her entire life from childhood in Steventon to her final weeks in Winchester.
Price: $14 adult annual pass, $10 concessions annual pass; winchester-cathedral.org.uk
Jane Austen Commemorative Service, July 18, 2017
Winchester Cathedral.
Visit Hampshire
Winchester Cathedral will hold a special evensong service at 5:30 p.m., free (book in advance); A Jane Austen Tour and Tea is also available at the cathedral on selected dates.
Price: $22.
More information on Jane Austen 200, including a comprehensive events list, can be found at janeausten200.co.uk.