on April 20th, my Jane Austen class has a study trip to Steventon, Jane Austen's hometown, and Chawton, where she dwelled in the latter part of her life. The 2 hour bus ride took us right to the chapel at Steventon, where Jane's dad George was reverend.
The entire town of Steventon has about 12 houses and this chapel, and the village is surrounded by fields. Not much to do for poor Jane.
Then we got back on the bus and drove to Chawton, where Jane lived with her widowed mother and sister and brother. Edward, her brother, was "adopted" by the Knight family when he was about 16. The Knight family was a long-standing rich family, and Thomas Knight did not have any children of his own and so made Edward Austen, who later changed his name to Edward Knight, his heir. Edward inherited two estates, one of which was in Chawton.
As we toured the "great house", I could see where a lot of Austen's inspiration came from. The estate extraordinarily resembles Sotherton in
Mansfield Park, with its' "picturesque" (fake) landscape, with strategically placed wilderness to block out the buildings that entail labor, such as barns and chapels. The landscape must be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, with no added purpose.
Jane Austen's sister and mother, both named Cassandra, are buried on the Chawton estate.
A ten minute walk down the road brought us to Chawton Cottage, where Edward allowed his mother and sisters to live. Significantly smaller, the house would have been very crowded with the various Austen nieces and nephews staying with their Aunt Jane. It is here that Austen wrote most of her novels.
Lastly, we went to the Vyne, an estate that the Austen children often went to to play with the children of the Chute family. The estate was significantly larger than Chawton estate. Imagine Rosings estate in
Pride and Prejudice. Again, walking through the estate, I saw a lot of references to Austen's novels.
Overall, VERY cool trip, minus all the rain and hail storms we seemed to be caught up in every time we stepped outside!
