Entering the World of Jane Austen

Yep, that's pretty much what this day was all about. Jane Austen. Ergo, it was a fantastic day. We depart on a train from Waterloo Station this morning, heading towards Alton, which is in Hampshire, England. Jane Austen was born in Steventon, which is a small town not far from Alton, where she moved with her mother and sister, Cassandra, after their father died. Her brother, Edward, had been adopted by a wealthy aunt and uncle when he was in his early teens, and consequently inherited their estate of Chawton when they died. He provided the Austen ladies with a permanent place to live at Chawton cottage, charging them no rent. Chawton cottage is just down the road from Chawton House, where Edward lived and managed his estate. It definitely brings to mind the situation of the Dashwoods in Sense and Sensibility, with Barton Cottage, as it is the same kind of set up. Upon arriving in Alton, we first visited Chawton House, which has been turned into the Library of Early English Women's Writing. This is actually the back of the house, but you get the idea of how gorgeous it is.

Didn't get any pictures of the inside, because flashes weren't permitted, and I am so incredibly technologically brilliant, that I don't know how to turn my camera's flash off. So that didn't happen. But I got to sit at a dining table that Jane Austen sat at, and sat at a window where she used to sit. We had a wonderful tour of the house, and then out into the garden and the "wilderness", which is a garden designed to look like a small natural forest. Reference to Pride and Prejudice, when Lady Catherine asks Lizzy to take a stroll with her in the "prettyish bit of wilderness" outside Longbourne ("Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?"). And this is what we came upon at the end of the walk:

 There was a herd of sheep in this field too, they just weren't smart enough to get in the photo. Sigh. Then we had lunch on the grounds. So I sat and ate my peanut butter and Nutella sandwich and read the first chapter of Mansfield Park. Peanut butter and Nutella is my new favorite sandwich. I have one at least every day. Extremely yummy.

There was also a dog that joined us later when we were all sitting together discussing Jane Austen. Clear evidence that her work is universal. 

They also have horses that are actually trained to do classical farm work, like pulling a plow and such. This particular one reminded me of St. Louis. Clydesdale.

To finish up on the House, we saw the graves of Jane's sister Cassandra, and their mother.

We continued on to Chawton Cottage, where Jane actually lived. This also had incredibly beautiful gardens, of course. And I did get pictures of the inside on this one. Much smaller than Chawton House, but very quaint and charming. Most significantly, this was Jane's room:

We also had the opportunity to play dress-up, which clothes from the Regency period. I didn't get an pictures, but a couple of my friends did, so once they post them, I will share them with you all. Just wanted to give you a heads up to prepare you for the awesomeness. Not only that, but we learned how to dance a Regency dance today as well. The dance that Lizzy dances with Mr. Collins in the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice? Yep, did that today. I wish I had a video of all of us, it was quite the little comedy. By the end, though, we had gotten pretty darn good.

I also took an incredibly huge amount of photos today, mostly flowers in the gardens, so you can check those out on Facebook if you so desire. I firmly believe that the English countryside has nothing to equal it, and it was absolutely lovely spending all day in it. And seeing these important places from Jane Austen made the stories come to life even more, and now, whenever I read them (which is practically all the time) I will remember this.

Until tomorrow, then!