TOUR ITINERARY
Friday.
Morning departure from London for the county of Hampshire. With our Jane Austen guide we take you back in time to the 18th and 19th century and canter through a countryside of turnpikes and toll roads. We delve into her books. Visit one of the important posting-houses and discover the fashionable modes of transport in Jane Austen's novels: the curricle, the barouche landau and (of course) the gig. Lunch in a typical 18th century pub. A walking tour of Winchester including the city museum and the house where she died. We visit the eleventh century Winchester Cathedral, famous for its intricate chantry chapels. See where Jane Austen is buried and enjoy a tour of the Cathedral. This is truly Austen country and we promise many surprising additions along the way. Overnight accommodation in Hampshire hotel.
Saturday.
We travel to the elegant Georgian city of Bath. We enjoy a walking tour of the places where Jane Austen lived and visited. See her various homes in Bath and the church where her parents were married. We also explore those places made famous in her Bath novels; 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Persuasion' - the Assembly Rooms, Pump Room, Abbey Church Yard and Bath Street. Visit the Jane Austen Centre and enjoy the authentic period atmosphere and watch the video of Jane Austen's Bath. Lunch at leisure. Stop in the picturesque village of Lacock. Church Street and High Street were used in the filming of 'Emma' and 'Pride & Prejudice'. The village is a popular setting for BBC period dramas as it remains much as it did in the eighteenth century. Option of a typical English afternoon tea in a country tea room or gardens. Overnight accommodation in Hampshire hotel.
Sunday.
We drive through the English countryside, seeing villages with thatched roof cottages and houses very much as they were during Jane's time. Visit the site of Steventon Rectory, where Jane Austen was born in 1775, the seventh of eight children. Jane spent the first twenty-five years of her life here and her father was rector. She also wrote the initial drafts of 'Northanger Abbey', 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice'. Halt at the old posting inn at Deane Gate and learn of its famous connections with Jane's brother. Follow the route often taken by Jane Austen herself to Steventon, admiring the country life so vividly reproduced in her novels. Visit Jane Austen's home in Chawton, where she lived for the last eight years of her life and the museum which houses a fine range of Jane Austen memorabilia. Known as Jane Austen's literary home, it was here that she revised and decided to publish those classics written at Steventon, such as 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility'. Close by is St Nicholas' Church, where Jane Austen's mother and sister are buried. Return to London early evening.
Included in the per person price: Transportation from central London and return; tour guide; 2 nights bed and breakfast in a 3 star Basingstoke hotel; all sightseeing as listed in the tour and entrance fees to Winchester Cathedral, The Jane Austen Centre, The Vyne and Chawton.
For payment in US$ via our website see below or for payment in UK£ please contact us.
