Jane Austen

Two hundred years after Jane Austen’s death on 18 July 1817, many of us remain besotted with her tales of romantic intrigue, biting wit and guaranteed happy endings where the heroine always gets the right man.

Jane Austen was born in 1817, in Hampshire and wrote most of her books there, including her first novel Sense and Sensibility.

From her birthplace to her place of rest, Hampshire offers some real highlights for your Jane Austen experience. Jane Austen’s home county of Hampshire exemplifies everything that makes the English countryside so very appealing to so many.

Quintessential English villages, the historical splendour of Winchester, rolling green hills and the beauty of the New Forest combine to delight and enthral those who visit.

Today you can step back in time to 1816 and follow in Jane’s footsteps as she composed her books and created her timeless characters. Explore her home, discover her belongings and wander in the beautiful cottage garden.

Jane lived at what is now Jane Austen’s House for the last eight years of her life. She moved here in 1809 with her mother, sister Cassandra and friend Martha Lloyd after a period spent living in lodgings.

The house was owned by Jane’s brother Edward, who had been named heir to the wealthy Knight family and had since inherited the Chawton Estate. The house – a 17th-century building – was offered to the women rent-free for life.

Hosted by an expert tour guide, you will embark on a walking tour of Winchester and learn more about the history and anecdotes of Jane Austen.

Your bespoke tour will include a visit to the impressive Cathedral where your personal tour guide will share their expert knowledge and insights into Jane Austen’s later life and resting place within the Cathedral cemetery. Make sure you bring your camera so you can take some incredible photos of the birds-eye view of the city from the Cathedral tower.

Depending on the time of year you visit Winchester, you may be able to see the sun rising and setting, as well as the Christmas lights beginning to glisten.

While you are in Winchester, expand your Jane Austen knowledge further and take a 20-minute drive to Chawton House, the most treasured Austen sight in the world and the house where Jane Austen lived, revised, wrote and published all six of her treasured novels.

Visit the Jane Austen Centre to delve between the pages of the life of one of Britain's favourite authors. Interactive exhibits and costumed characters tell the story of Austen's time spent living in Bath between 1801-1806, the Regency Period, and the impact it had on her novels. Continue on a journey of the stories of Bath with a visit to Bath Abbey.

The history of this sacred place stretches back to the Anglo-Saxon period and will enrapture you with tales of Kings and Queens, saints and sinners, as well as the stories of ordinary people.

Don't miss out on the chance to ponder your thoughts just like a character in a Jane Austen novel at the stunning Palladian Bridge found in Prior Park.

The National Trust's Prior Park is found just outside Bath, where there are beautiful gardens and rolling landscapes a-plenty to imagine yourself wondering through a chapter of Pride and Prejudice.