Celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen
This year marks 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen. Born in Hampshire in 1775, this remarkable author continues to captivate audiences around the world with her vibrant characters, memorable settings and sharply observed portrayal of Regency society.
With events and celebrations happening across the country, now’s the ideal time to step into Jane Austen’s world (as though we need an excuse) and explore some of the places most beloved by the author and her characters, staying in some very special Landmarks along the way.
Explore the city of Bath
No Jane Austen pilgrimage could be complete without a few days spent soaking up the Regency sights of Bath. Jane lived here herself for five years in her twenties, and subsequently gave the city a starring role in both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (on-screen adaptations of which have both been filmed here). For the anniversary year, exhibitions at the Holborne Museum and No.1 Royal Crescent explore the author’s relationship with Bath, while the ever-popular Jane Austen Centre is going all out with some extra special balls and events in addition to their annual 10-day Jane Austen Festival and Regency parade in September.
Scene from Persuasion, courtesy of Netflix
Where to stay
At the heart of Austen’s Bath, Elton House is a handsome Georgian townhouse with accomodation for parties of 10. Opposite the Georgian Pump Room, our elegant apartment in 18th-century Marshal Wade’s House sleeps 4, with enviable views of the comings and goings in the square below. On a hilltop just outside of the city meanwhile, the splendid Beckford's Tower commands fine views of Bath and its surrounding countryside.
Elton House, Bath. Sleeps 10.
Discover Anne Elliot’s Lyme Regis
Jane Austen is known to have visited the seaside town of Lyme Regis in 1803 and 1804, and went on to partly set her final novel, Persuasion, along its blustery clifftops and bustling seafront. In the novel, Austen describes "the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the Walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which, in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company”.
To follow in Jane’s footsteps (though hopefully not Louisa Musgrove’s), head to the snaking sea wall known as the Cobb, where Persuasion’s Anne Elliot, Captain Wentworth and their party take an ill-fated stroll ending in Louisa’s dramatic fall from the steps.
Where to stay
With its pink exterior and intricate stone carvings, the 18th century villa, Belmont, would almost certainly have been noticed by Austen on her visits to Lyme. She may have even come into acquaintance with its (by that date) elderly owner, the impressive businesswoman Eleanor Coade, who decorated the house with her famous ‘Coade Stone’.
Belmont, Lyme Regis. Sleeps 8.
Visit Jane Austen’s House
Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire, is one of the most treasured literary sites in the world. The handsome village home is where Jane lived happily for the last eight years of her life with her sister and mother, and completed her six novels. Inside, the rooms are preserved as though the ladies have just stepped out, with personal belongings like jewellery, letters, first editions of her novels and her writing table available for all to see.
Jane Austen's House. Credit: Luke Shears for Jane Austen's House
Where to stay
Just outside of Chichester, around 40 minutes from Chawton, Fox Hall is a former hunting lodge dripping in Georgian splendour. Built in the 1730s, the Palladian simplicity of the hall's brick exterior belies the exuberant decoration of the upstairs sitting room, where the bed nestles in a gilded alcove.
Fox Hall, West Sussex. Sleeps 4.
Explore Derbyshire
"To me Derbyshire is the best of all counties. You will judge for yourself whether Chatsworth is not the equal of Blenheim. And surely these southern counties have nothing to compare to the wild and untamed beauty of the Peaks." So says Lizzy Bennet’s Aunt Gardiner in Pride and Prejudice, echoing Austen’s own view of the region which she described as “no finer county in England.” She visited the area in 1811, staying at the Rutland Arms in Bakewell - widely believed to be the inspiration for the fictional village of Lambton - where she is thought to have revised the final chapters of Pride and Prejudice.
The mighty Chatsworth House itself is generally considered to be the inspiration behind Mr Darcy's Pemberley, and the 2005 on-screen adaptation of the novel takes the house as its filming location. For the 1995 BBC version of Pemberley, visit Lyme Park, in nearby Disley.
Where to stay
North Street, a cosy workers’ cottage in the Peak District village of Cromford, near Bakewell. Built in 1771 by Richard Arkwright to house the workers from his pioneering water-powered cotton mill, the row of houses represents the earliest planned industrial housing in the world and appears just as it was in Austen's time.
North Street, Cromford. Sleeps 4.
Jane Austen’s Southampton
Jane lived for a short while in Southampton, where she attended boarding school with her sister and celebrated her 18th birthday dancing at a ball in the upstairs rooms of The Dolphin. In 2025, a city-wide programme of events will tell the story of the author's time here, with an exhibition of the writer’s travelling desk, special workshops and dance and music performances, including the irreverent hit show Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of) at the Mayflower Theatre in June.
Jane Austen's final resting place is at Winchester Cathedral, just 20 minutes from Southampton; a poignant and peaceful place to contemplate the life of this most extraordinary woman.
Where to stay
Luttrell’s Tower, a splendid Georgian folly on the shores of the Solent, with its very own smugglers’ tunnel down to the beach. Built in around 1780, the tower would have been brand new when Jane Austen lived in Southampton as a teenager.
Luttrell's Tower, Southampton. Sleeps 4.
