Austen Adventure 2024 Itinerary
As the holidays approach, we hope you’ll take a minute to think about next summer. The 2024 Austen Adventure is here! Based on the feedback from the participants in our inaugural tour, we’ve made a few changes to this year’s itinerary.
The first change is that the tour is moved much earlier in the summer to take advantage of the beautiful weather in late June and early July. We’ll meet in Alton on the 30th of June and stay at the Swan Inn until the 6th of July. We enjoyed the Swan; it’s rustic and homey. We enjoyed getting to know the staff over the course of the week and look forward to seeing them again!
On Sunday evening, we’ll gather in the restaurant for a Roasted dinner. We know better now because the Sunday roast sells out; this summer, we’ll order ahead so everyone can get exactly what they want. Over a meal of good food, we’ll get to know each other before settling in for much-needed rest before our adventures begin in earnest.
First thing Monday morning, after a delicious breakfast in the restaurant (raves about breakfast), we’ll board our private coach and head across the Salisbury Plain to Bath. We’ll start our day in Bath with a tour of the Jane Austen Centre, a lovely museum experience. Then, we’ll take a walking tour of the town based on what Jane would have seen. After a few hours on your own to explore the Abbey or the sights along the River Avon, we will meet at the Pump House for a fancy afternoon tea, complete with live classical music and a view of the Roman Baths.
Tuesday is our Chawton day. We will walk from the Inn after breakfast through the town of Alton, along the Jane Austen trail, to Jane’s brother’s manor, Chawton House. We’ll have a guided tour of the Tudor-style manor, a visit to the Women’s Library, and lunch somewhere on site. After a quick view of the gardens, we’ll make our way back into town to visit Jane Austen’s cottage, where she wrote or edited all of her books. This visit is made complete with a creative writing workshop with the staff. This was a highlight of last year’s tour.
On Wednesday, we’ll explore the seaside and visit Lime Regis on the English channel. This seaside resort is featured in many of Jane’s novels. We’ll visit the extant locations from Persuasion, in particular, and stopped by the Lyme Regis museum, which has collected objects connected with Jane’s time there. After walking the seaside, we will have lunch together to enjoy the panoramic views of the English Channel and squint to see if we can see France.
Thursday is a tour of two of the movie locations for the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. We’ll begin the day at the manor at Basildon, a stand-in for the Bingley home. After touring the Palladian manor and its extensive gardens, we’ll travel west to Stourhead, which served as the location of Darcy’s ill-conceived first proposal to Lizzie. Both homes are on the National Trust register, so have been maintained at a high level of historical accuracy.
Our final full day days us to Jane’s resting site in Winchester Cathedral on Friday. We’ll have a walking tour of the area and learn about Jane’s connections to the city. After the tour, we’ll have time to visit this Anglo-Saxon masterpiece, filled with history dating back to King Alfred the Great. We will have afternoon tea together in the cathedral’s café before we have free time to explore Winchester’s lovely market town. Our travels will take us back to the Swan for a farewell dinner before we all go our separate ways the next morning.
