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Jane Austen sites, Chawton and Winchester

Looking for motorcoah or minicoach day tour from London to Chawton and Winchester in Dec.-Jan.

Posted by
658 posts

It's unlikely that you're going to find a specific tour from London to either of these places. That should not put you off. You can get to Winchester quite easily ( but not necessarily cheaply ) by rail. For Chawton take the train to Alton and then either a local bus or a taxi to Chawton ( again not cheap ). From thereon it's down to the guidebooks. You may have a better Jane Austen experience in Bath.

I'd be inclined to contact the Jane Austen Society in order to find out what is open on the days you want and possibly arange a local guide.

I'm sorry to say that places that should be of historic literary importance can often be closed when you least expect and locals can be utterly indifferent to their literary heritage. The same can apply to Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and DH Lawrence. Only the Bronte Parsonage at Howarth really takes it's literary heritage as seriously as many of us would like.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you. I'll follow your advice. Literary lions have it tough: only recently has St. Paul Minnesota honored F. Scott Fitzgerald with a statue and a hall named for him.

Posted by
3580 posts

You won't have a problem finding Jane Austen in Bath. There is even a Jane Austen festival every year. The JA center has regular walks around Bath. The home she lived in with her family is open to visitors occasionally. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we'll be enjoying "The Complete Jane Austen" by Masterpiece Theatre on our PBS station.

Posted by
43 posts

Bath also has a very nice Jane Austin museum right in the center of town. My grand daughter loved it.

Posted by
3 posts

Look into Backroads Touring Company. http://www.backroadstouring.co.uk/
They do private Jane Austen tours. I took their Jane Austen tour several years ago when they had regularly scheduled day tours from London. They don't do this anymore. You'll have to arrange it privately. The tour was excellent.