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Jane Austen’s Hampshire
Homes, Gardens, Inspirations and film sites
5 days from London
Our tour follows the trail of one of the world’s favourite writers. See the places that inspired Jane Austen, where she lived, wrote her most important works and some of the treasure houses captured as settings for recent film versions of her works.
You’ll explore all over Hampshire, where Jane Austen spent most of her life, including the small parish church in Steventon and Chawton Cottage, now a museum dedicated to her life and works. There’s Winchester, her final resting place, Southampton and New Forest, the popular holiday spot Lyme Regis and the city of Bath, where you can walk along the Georgian streets in Jane’s as well as her some of her character’s footsteps. We’ll see gardens from the Regency period, classic stately homes and discover real life local connections to Jane Austen and a few films sites from recent popular versions her works. This is a lovely homes and gardens tour for both hard core and casual Jane Austen fans!
Links with The Lake District, land of Wordsworth & Beatrix Potter, and/or with with either Heart of England Gardens or Kent Landscapes.
“Everything was perfect - could not have asked for a better trip. We hit all the Jane Austen highlights and got to see some other sights that were phenomenal ...outstanding - cannot praise him [our guide] enough. He was extremely personable and knew a great deal about our favorite author...Simply fantastic!” Britte, 2011 Jane Austen tour
Tour Dates:
12 - 16 June, 2012
Tour Rates: $1699 USD per person; $1999 USD single rate
What your tour price includes: The services of a driver/guide for 5 touring days, accommodation for 4 nights while on the tour including both full breakfasts and 3 dinners. Your price also includes entrance fees to listed attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide.
Alternatively, check out our September English Literary Tour including the Agatha Christie Festival and Bath’s Jane Austen Festival!
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
Day 1 Tuesday
We depart London, our destination being Hampshire, ‘Jane Austen Country.’ We will travel to our first village of interest, Steventon, where Jane Austen spent her first 25 years. We will explore the small parish church where her father was a clergyman including the churchyard where her brother and his family lie. This quiet, peaceful place is like stepping back in time.
The Tudor manor house The Vyne, visited by King Henry VIII on at least 3 occasions, is also on the day’s agenda. The house is filled with an eclectic mix of fine furniture, portraits, textiles and sculpture. The attractive gardens feature an ornamental lake, woodlands and flourishing wetlands, a haven for wildlife and water fowl. This was the home of the Chute family, friends of the Austens, and Jane and her sister often visited for dances and to play cards. The dances held here would have been intimate affairs, ones of great contrast to the lavish balls Jane would later attend in Bath. We can see the portrait of the Chute’s adoptive daughter Caroline, said to be the inspiration for Fanny Price of Mansfield Park.
Next, Jane’s home at Chawton, now open as a museum. It was in this quaint village that she spent the majority of her later years and where she wrote or completed most of her most famous works, Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice amongst others. Once inside the house, we are in her world. We’ll also enjoy the village itself and the cottage gardens that Jane and her sister lovingly tended.
Our accommodation for the next two nights, subject to availability, is an Edwardian manor house set in 12 acres of beautiful gardens between Winchester and the coastal town of Southampton.
NIGHTSTOP: Chilworth area, Hampshire
Day 2 Wednesday
Today we’ll explore the ancient Saxon capital of Winchester. Our time here will include a guided walk around the city, seeing the cathedral where Jane Austen is buried, one of England's most famous public schools and the place Jane last called home, where she passed away in 1817.
We’ll also enjoy touring around New Forest and the seaport of Southampton, where Jane Austen lived for 2 years following the death of her father. We’ll explore the ancient city walls, said to be a favorite walking spot for Jane, and a few local landmarks well known to her. It is thought that the Portsmouth scenes in Mansfield Park are modeled after her experience of local life in Southampton.
Dependent upon time and interest, we might also enjoy a stop at Houghton Lodge, set alongside the River Test on a tranquil, rural estate. Often used by film crews, this is a fine example of a late 18th Century cottage garden. Here is a woodland wildlife walk along the river, a lovely walled garden, orchid house and a Peacock Topiary garden.
NIGHT STOP: Hampshire, as above
Day 3 Thursday
During our day, we’ll visit in iconic Salisbury. Here we can pay our respects inside the stunning gothic cathedral and see one of the greatest pieces of writing, the Magna Carta.
Wilton House is a great choice on our theme and truly one of the country's treasure houses. Here, experience nearly 500 years of history as you wander through its magnificent rooms, marvel at its architecture, soak in its fine paintings and spectacular gardens. Wilton House is often used as a location for period films thanks to its sumptuous interiors. Fans may recognize some rooms as “Pemberley” from the 2005 Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice. The ‘double cube room’ is particularly popular, also appearing in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lydon, Madness of King George, Judi Dench favorite Mrs Brown and most recently in Young Victoria.
This afternoon, we will make our way to Bath, the city of Georgian splendor and Roman antiquity. Upon arrival, your guide will be on hand for an orientation walking tour of Jane Austen’s city. This place was enjoyed by the social set of the 18th and 19th centuries, a setting for Jane Austen amongst many other writers; Austen fans will immediately recognize several streets and squares from her novels such as Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. You can also see places where the author herself lived.
During our stay, you’ll have free time so you can explore Bath as you please. We highly recommend time in the Roman Baths and Pump Rooms, the Jane Austen Centre or you could simply wander the lovely tea rooms and antique shops - the choice is yours!
Dinner is not included tonight for flexibility’s sake.
Subject to availability, our Bath accommodation is a Georgian townhouse with a re-created Regency garden opened exclusively for guests. These gardens were inspired by the writings of Jane Austen and, along with meticulous historical research, all plantings were specifically chosen as ones that Jane or one of her characters would have enjoyed.
NIGHT STOP: Bath
Day 4 Friday
Touring to Lyme Regis far from the madding crowd, we will explore a bit of countryside well known to Thomas Hardy. The counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorsetshire are ones where time literally seems to have stood still since the days of Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy.
Jane Austen's Lyme Regis is sure to be one highlight of our day! We'll spend time exploring this part of Britain's 'Jurassic Park' and perhaps find a fossil along the shoreline nearby. Lyme Regis was a popular sea spa town and the site of many Austen family holidays. The town looks much as it did when Jane spent time here, and sites from Persuasion are recognizable.
Also today, Stourhead Gardens, featuring one of the world's finest 18th Century landscape gardens including a magnificent lake, classical temples, enchanting grottos plus rare and exotic trees. The Temple of Apollo here was featured in a memorable scene between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice and should be recognizable to fans.
NIGHT STOP: Bath, as above
Day 5 Saturday
This morning, some free time to linger in the splendors of Bath. Those guests continuing as part of A ‘Week’ with Jane Austen tour to the Heart of England have the full day to explore Bath as you wish, seeing Lacock tomorrow morning.
Early afternoon, guests returning to London will make their way to the medieval village of Lacock, which has hardly changed in the past 200 years. With its magnificent abbey, half timbered cottages and greystone houses, it provides a perfect setting. This lovely place, where TV ariels, telephone wires and advertising are banned, has been used as a film set for many popular films such as the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle production of Pride and Prejudice, the BBC series of Cranford and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Jane Austen attended school at the Reading Ladies Boarding School in the Thames Valley, an area set amidst unforgettable countryside that surely would have contributed to her development as a writer, an area that you will be passing through en-route back to London.
Why Not ‘Link It’? There’s the choice to make it A ‘Week’ with Jane Austen visiting Hampshire and the Heart of England OR join the Kent Landscapes departure starting tomorrow as a longer tour in Jane Austen’s Southern England.
Have even more time to travel? Take an extended literary adventure joining the Literary Festival September departure - including the Bath Jane Austen Festival and Agatha Christie Literary Festival.
Add London to your package: London accommodation, airport transfers, London city tours, London attraction passes and London transport passes are separate from our short tour but can be added to your overall package as you wish. Ask us for full details.
London offers heaps of options for visitors! We recommend beginning your Jane Austen literary adventure with a visit to the British Library where you can see Jane’s manuscripts. Another choice is the National Portrait Gallery, where among the many painting and photographs of famous Britons, you can see the sketch of Jane Austen done by her sister Cassandra. This is the only undisputed portrait of the author.
Perhaps you will choose to go around on the “Big Bus”, the best introduction to the iconic sites of the Capitol. Hop off when you want then hop back on - a fun way to start your holiday. SGT highly recommends a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral during your time in London. Their new included multi-media personal Ipod Touch tour guide brings hundreds of years of British history to life - literary at your fingertips! Avoid the queues/lines and pre-book your tickets via us. We can also assist you with pre-booking The Tower of London tickets too. This evening, perhaps go to a show at one of London’s fantastic theatres such as Shakespeare’s Globe? Spoilt for choice in the Capital!
Please note: All attraction opening times are correct at time of printing this website. While we will do our utmost to include all of the properties mentioned as central visits, we reserve the right to change an attraction should it become impossible to deliver a planned visit due to changes in opening days or times that we could not have been aware of at the time of loading this tour to our website.
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