I am going to England this October and want to see St. Nicholas Church Steventon [Jane Austen was christened here and lived her first 25 years here; her father was the rector of the church]. I will be staying in Alton [by the Jane Austen House], Hampshire for 2 nights 3 days and will be in Bath for 3 nights [4 days] before that, I am flying to Dublin the day following my stay in Alton so I can't stay longer. I have been trying to chart out the course and want to know the easiest and quickest way to get there. So far the only way I have found that gets me close would be to take the train to Basingstoke then take the Steventon bus and then walk for about 20 mins. The one thing I found out is that the bus coming back stops running after 12pm. Would I be better to take a taxi from the train station and have him wait while I look around [the rectory was torn down shortly after Jane A. died so all that I would be going to look at would be the church]. I am spending most of one day in Winchester (2 hr train ride from Alton) and want to know if I should try and squeeze St. Nicholas Church in on that day or if it would not be feasible. I will be going to Cardiff one of my days that I am staying in Bath. Any advice would be helpful.
Elaine