Events

Explore Jane Austen’s House with our fun Pride and Prejudice trail! In different rooms around the House you will discover a range of items left by characters in the novel – from Lydia’s abandoned game of Lottery Tickets to Mary’s copy of Fordyce’s Sermons. 

Pick up a free trail guide and enjoy reliving moments from the novel as you explore the House where it was revised and published.  

Details:
Dates: 23 – 29 April 2025
Times: 10am – 5pm (last entry 4pm)
Tickets: Free with House entry 

*SOLD OUT!*

I do not want any such pursuit to get me out of doors. The pleasure of walking and breathing fresh air is enough for me, and in fine weather I am out more than half my time. Mamma says I am never within.’

Northanger Abbey

~

This fun, relaxed guided walk will take you back in time, to discover the village Jane Austen knew and loved. Walk in Jane’s footsteps and learn about her love of nature, village life, houses and views she knew, and the importance of village life in shaping her writing.

Throughout the walk, short readings from Austen’s letters and novels will bring her world to life.

Your event ticket also includes House admission so you can explore the House that Jane knew and loved, and enjoy the pretty cottage garden, vintage garden games and family activities.

After the walk, why not enjoy a well-earned cup of tea at Cassandra’s Cup, opposite the Museum? (Bookings must be made separately, visit Cassandra’s Cup website)

Details:

Date: Friday 4 April 2025

Time: 11am-12pm

Location: This event starts from Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us

Tickets: £16.50

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

The guided walk will depart from Jane Austen’s House at 11:00am promptly. Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group.

 The walk is suitable for all abilities, but please wear sturdy, sensible footwear and bring a bottle of water and sun cream or an umbrella – depending on the weather!

This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event day. 

Accessibility: This walk is primarily along pavements, however there are some uneven areas and one stop is on grass. It may not be suitable for wheelchairs or mobility scooters. If you would like more information about the accessibility of the route, please contact us at enquiries@janeaustens.house

Join us for a guided walk through of our beautiful virtual tour!

VISIT JANE AUSTEN’S HOUSE FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME!

**Included in Forbes list of the World’s Best Virtual Tours!**

Join us for this exclusive online event, hosted by an expert guide from Jane Austen’s House, who will use our beautiful virtual tour to show you around the House and outbuildings. As part of a small group, you will enjoy a guided walk through of our virtual tour with lots of opportunities to chat and to ask questions.

Details:
Date: Saturday 5 April 2025
Time: 8-9pm (BST)
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7.00

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. Please check your junk folders!

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Friday 4 April 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

This event has now SOLD OUT.

Step back in time and enjoy a magical evening tour of Jane Austen’s House.

Join us for a unique, candlelit guided tour of the House and discover Jane Austen’s story, told by an expert guide, using the House itself and objects from the collection to set the scene.

Walk through rooms Jane and her family knew and loved, discover their traditions and family pastimes, and enjoy the House in a new way!

We’ll finish with a glass of wine and the chance to raise a toast to our favourite author!

DETAILS:

Friday 11 April 2025: 6.00pm – 7.00pm, 6:30pm-7:30pm

Time: Tours begin at 6.00pm, 6:30pm

Duration: 1 hour

Location: This event takes place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us

Tickets: £25

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

Capacity for each tour will be kept low to allow for the best possible experience. 

Each tour will begin promptly.  Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group. Latecomers may not be admitted.

The tour will finish with a glass of wine or a non-alcoholic alternative. Please let us know of any dietary requirements upon booking.

Join us for an exclusive, early-morning tour of the house Jane Austen knew and loved.

In this exclusive, early-morning tour, we’ll be unlocking doors, opening shutters and letting sunshine into the darkened rooms. Join us for a curatorial journey as we dust, polish and check that everything is in order to start the day. Along the way, we’ll share secrets and stories of this extraordinary house through the ages.

After the tour, you’ll enjoy a light breakfast of tea and English muffins – just as Jane used to do!

Date: Saturday 12 April 2025

Time: 9am – 10:30am

Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.

Tickets: £25.00

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

Your ticket includes a House tour, followed by a light breakfast of English muffins, butter and preserves, and a choice of tea or coffee. If you have any dietary requirements, please let us know after booking.

Capacity for this event will be kept very low to make it a truly special experience.

Join author and biographer Jan Merriman for a free talk on Philadelphia Hancock, Jane Austen’s Aunt ‘Phila’. Based on extensive original research, Jan builds a picture of Philadelphia’s life and times, the people she knew and the places she lived.

This talk celebrates Jan’s new book: Jane Austen’s Remarkable Aunt Philadelphia Hancock, published by Pen & Sword UK. This fascinating book tells the real story of Jane’s aunt and of her favourite cousin, the ‘outlandish’ comtesse Eliza de Feuillide. It is the narrative of a remarkable eighteenth-century woman’s life journey; orphaned and poor, of the kind her niece would later fictionalise, and of how she manages to make her way to respectability, love and financial security.

Details:

Date: Saturday 19 April 2025

Time: 11.30am – 12pm

Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us. 

Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select 19 April!

 No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

Author and biographer Jan Merriman

Drop into a free, pop up talk about Jane’s sister Cassandra Austen, a keen amateur artist. This talk accompanies our display of Cassandra’s artworks in the Drawing Room.

Details:
Dates: 1 – 11 May, daily
Time: 2pm – 2.15pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your tickets to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, 1-11 May 2025.

‘Yes, yes, we will have a Pianoforte, as good a one as can be got for 30 Guineas — & I will practise country dances, that we may have some amusement for our nephews & neices, when we have the pleasure of their company.’ 

Jane Austen, 28 December 1808  

Throughout our Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, we will welcome competent pianists who wish to practice on our 1813 Clementi square piano for an hour each morning – just as Jane Austen used to do. 

The first hour of the day will be devoted to piano practice in the Drawing Room. The House will be open to visitors, so if you wish to play, please be prepared for an appreciative audience!  

We will provide a selection of sheet music from the period, as well as printed copies of Jane Austen’s handwritten music books, so you can practice the songs that Jane herself played in this very room, should you wish to. We are also very happy for you to play from your own repertoire, although we do ask that you choose appropriate music to play. 

Find out more about our Clementi square piano.

Details:
Dates: 1-11 May 2025
Times: 10am – 11am daily
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us. 
Tickets: £17.50 (to include entry to Jane Austen’s House) / £5 if you have an annual pass

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, 1-11 May 2025.

Join us for a quiet and inspiring creative writing session in the beautiful grounds of Jane Austen’s House. No need to book – just drop in and write!   

This session will take place in the cosy Learning Centre tucked behind Jane Austen’s House. We’ll provide a quiet space in which to write, pens and paper, access to our extensive reference library, and fortifying tea and coffee. 

Bring along your work in progress or start something new! 

Details: 

Date: Thursday 1 May

Time: 11am – 1pm 

Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us. 

Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select 1 May!

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our  Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, 1-11 May 2025.

Join us for a double treat!  This exclusive virtual event will be part book launch / part private view, led by award-winning scholar Janine Barchas and best-selling graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg.

As the curator of our new mini-exhibition The Artworks of Cassandra, Janine Barchas is the perfect person to introduce Cassandra’s artworks – including previously-unseen examples of her copywork, along with some of her lesser-known family portraits. Janine will take us behind the scenes of the exhibition, sharing stories of the artworks and her own tales of tracking down them down and uncovering the original prints that they were based on. She will reveal Cassandra’s unusual artistic habits, her artistic legacy, how her artworks were regarded by the Austen family and how we should consider them today.

Moving from exhibition tour to celebratory book launch, Isabel will introduce the pair’s brand new graphic biography of Jane Austen, focusing on the relationship between the Austen sisters: The Novel Life of Jane Austen. This transatlantic collaboration between Janine in Austin, Texas and Isabel in London has resulted in a book that has been lauded as “Truly delightful, charming, and funny” and we can’t wait to get our hands on it!

Together, Janine and Isabel will also walk us through the creative process behind their ecstatically-drawn and painstakingly-researched graphic biography, sharing their favourite scenes and moments from the book and celebrating its publication!

Details:
Date: Thursday 1 May
Time: 8pm – 9pm (BST)
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7 

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

This event will be recorded so you can watch again later. All ticket-holders will be emailed a link to the recording after the event. The recording will be accessible for one month.

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Wednesday 30 April. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

“Is there a felicity in the world superior to this?”

Sense & Sensibility’s Marianne Dashwood isn’t the only person to find herself inspired by nature – from Keats’ nightingale to Dickinson’s “thing with feathers”, Vernon Scannell’s ‘Nettles’ to Lucille Clifton’s ‘Fox’, poets have a long tradition of translating the beauty (and lessons) of nature onto the page.

Taking our cue from Marianne’s love of the great outdoors, we will take a relaxed stroll through nearby woodland before sitting down to write poems of our own, just a stone’s throw from the house where Jane Austen wrote and published her works of genius. As well as taking inspiration from our environment, there will also be help from example poems and specially devised writing prompts.

This workshop will provide a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in which to explore your creativity. It is suitable for all abilities. Ages 18+.

Refreshments provided – just bring your notebook and pen!

Tutor: This workshop will be led by Ellora Sutton, a poet and PhD candidate based in Hampshire. She was the Poetry Book Society Spring 2023 Pamphlet Choice with Antonyms for Burial (Fourteen Poems), and her most recent pamphlet, Artisanal Slush is out now from Verve. Amongst other things, she is the poetry reviewer for Mslexia and has been previously been the poet-in-residence at Jane Austen’s House. Her PhD research looks at using poetry as a means of assessing the impact of urban planning on women.

Details:
Date: Saturday 3 May
Time: 10.30am – 1pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us. 
Tickets: £35

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements. 

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

‘I do not want any such pursuit to get me out of doors. The pleasure of walking and breathing fresh air is enough for me, and in fine weather I am out more than half my time. Mamma says I am never within.’

Northanger Abbey

~

This fun, relaxed guided walk will take you back in time, to discover the village Jane Austen knew and loved. Walk in Jane’s footsteps and learn about her love of nature, village life, houses and views she knew, and the importance of village life in shaping her writing.

Throughout the walk, short readings from Austen’s letters and novels will bring her world to life.

Your event ticket also includes House admission so you can explore the House that Jane knew and loved, and enjoy the pretty cottage garden, vintage garden games and family activities.

After the walk, why not enjoy a well-earned cup of tea at Cassandra’s Cup, opposite the Museum? (Bookings must be made separately, visit Cassandra’s Cup website)

Details:

Date: Saturday 3 May 2025

Time: 11:00am to 12.00pm

Location: This event starts from Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us

Tickets: £16.50

**This event is now sold out**

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

The guided walk will depart from Jane Austen’s House at 11:00am promptly. Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group.

 The walk is suitable for all abilities, but please wear sturdy, sensible footwear and bring a bottle of water and sun cream or an umbrella – depending on the weather!

This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event day. 

Accessibility: This walk is primarily along pavements, however there are some uneven areas and one stop is on grass. It may not be suitable for wheelchairs or mobility scooters. If you would like more information about the accessibility of the route, please contact us at enquiries@janeaustens.house

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, 1-11 May 2025.

‘As a house, Barton Cottage, though small, was comfortable and compact; but as a cottage it was defective, for the building was regular, the roof was tiled, the window shutters were not painted green, nor were the walls covered with honeysuckles.’

Sense and Sensibility

*Sold Out* Step back in time and enjoy a magical evening tour of Jane Austen’s House, with a special Sense and Sensibility twist!

This unique, candlelit tour of the House will be led by an expert guide. After hours, and as part of a small group, you’ll discover Jane Austen’s story and that of her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, using the House itself and objects from the collection to set the scene.

Following in Jane’s footsteps, you’ll discover the rooms where S&S was revised and edited, soon after Jane moved to Chawton in 1809.

Moving from room to room, you’ll discover how the House itself can help us understand the novel better, and objects in the collection that help the story come to life.

We’ll finish with a glass of wine and the chance to raise a toast to our favourite authoress!

DETAILS:
Date: Saturday 3 May 2025: 5.30pm – 6.30pm, 6pm-7pm
Time: Tours begin at 5.30pm, 6pm
Duration: 1 hour
Location: This event takes place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £25

Capacity for each tour will be kept low to allow for the best possible experience. 

Each tour will begin promptly.  Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group. Latecomers may not be admitted.

The tour will finish with a glass of wine or a non-alcoholic alternative. Please let us know of any dietary requirements upon booking.

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, 1-11 May 2025.

Join us for an intimate, informal talk by eminent Austen scholar Janet Todd, as she discusses her new book Living with Jane Austen. Part Austen commentary and part personal memoir, this gentle and beguiling book reveals what Jane Austen’s works have meant to Todd in different phases of her life and celebrates the undimmable power of Jane Austen’s work to help us understand our own bodies and our environment, and teach us about patience, humour, beauty and the meaning of home.

‘Sharing a mind is as exciting as sharing a bed. In this gentle, witty, semi-memoir, Janet Todd reveals her eccentric encounters with books and shows us why the novels of Jane Austen should matter to all of us now.’ – Miriam Margolyes

After the talk, Janet will be signing copies of Living with Jane Austen which is published in March 2025.

JANET TODD has been thinking and writing about books for more than half a century. She has been a biographer, novelist, critic, editor and memoirist. In the 1970s, working in the US and UK she helped to open up the study of early women writers by beginning a journal and compiling encyclopaedias before editing the complete works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Aphra Behn and Jane Austen. Her last academic position was as President of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. Now retired, she at last has time to become a slow reader of Jane Austen.

Details:
Date: Sunday 4 May
Time: 11am – 12pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: £12

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Join Austen expert Fiona Stafford for a fascinating exploration of Sense and Sensibility in relation to Romanticism.

Marianne Dashwood is well known by Austen lovers for her strong feelings and eagerness in everything.  But what about her mind?  This talk will explore the way Marianne thinks about the world, how she sees her surroundings and the people she loves (or doesn’t love).  ‘Marianne’s romance’ will be considered in relation to Romanticism.  By reading Austen’s first published novel in conjunction with contemporary poetry, Marianne’s passion for dead leaves begins to seem a sign of her good sense as much as her sensibility.

FIONA STAFFORD is a literary scholar, writer and broadcaster.  She is Professor of English at the University of Oxford, teaching Romantic literature, place and nature writing, and Archipelagic writing.  She has worked on Austen for many years, with books including Jane Austen: A Brief Life (2017), Emma: A Casebook of Criticism, and editions of Pride and Prejudice and Emma. She also writes on Romantic literature more broadly, and on the natural world,  landscape and seascape.  Recent latest books include Time and Tide: The Long, Long Life of Landscape (2024) and an Everyman edition of Byron’s Travels (2024).

Details:
Date: Sunday 4 May
Time: 3pm – 4pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £12 

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

“Dear, dear Norland!” said Marianne, as she wandered alone before the house, on the last evening of their being there; “when shall I cease to regret you!—

Our popular ‘Reading Aloud’ evenings take inspiration from Jane Austen’s own habit of reading her own works to family and friends in the Drawing Room of Jane Austen’s House.

This event will focus on Jane’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility. As part of a small and exclusive audience, you’ll settle down for a lively reading by fantastic actors Hollie Hales and Adam Cunis – bringing Jane Austen’s beloved story to life.

We’ll start at the beginning, meeting the Dashwood family and setting the scene at Norland Park, and enjoy the first five chapters of the novel – taking us up to the Dashwoods leaving Norland for Barton Cottage.

As a master of dialogue, Jane Austen’s works are best enjoyed out loud, and this delightful performance will bring the characters alive in the very room in which Jane gave voice to them herself.

After the reading, we’ll enjoy a drink in the Historic Kitchen and toast our inimitable and extraordinary authoress.

Details:
Date: Sunday 4 May 2025
Performance times: 6pm – 7pm OR 7.45pm – 8.45pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £35

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

About the performers:

Hollie Hales trained at RADA. Her recent audio work includes Tales of a Monstrous Heart by Jennifer Delaney, Bookishly Ever After by Mia Page (Audible) and Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire “The Gordon Riots” podcast.

Adam Cunis’s recent work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bridge Theatre), Macbeth Storytelling (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) and The Woman in the Moon (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse).

‘I do not want any such pursuit to get me out of doors. The pleasure of walking and breathing fresh air is enough for me, and in fine weather I am out more than half my time. Mamma says I am never within.’

Northanger Abbey

~

This fun, relaxed guided walk will take you back in time, to discover the village Jane Austen knew and loved. Walk in Jane’s footsteps and learn about her love of nature, village life, houses and views she knew, and the importance of village life in shaping her writing.

Throughout the walk, short readings from Austen’s letters and novels will bring her world to life.

Your event ticket also includes House admission so you can explore the House that Jane knew and loved, and enjoy the pretty cottage garden, vintage garden games and family activities.

After the walk, why not enjoy a well-earned cup of tea at Cassandra’s Cup, opposite the Museum? (Bookings must be made separately, visit Cassandra’s Cup website)

Details:

Date: Monday 5 May 2025

Time: 11am-12pm

Location: This event starts from Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us

Tickets: £16.50

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

The guided walk will depart from Jane Austen’s House at 3pm promptly. Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group.

 The walk is suitable for all abilities, but please wear sturdy, sensible footwear and bring a bottle of water and sun cream or an umbrella – depending on the weather!

This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event day. 

Accessibility: This walk is primarily along pavements, however there are some uneven areas and one stop is on grass. It may not be suitable for wheelchairs or mobility scooters. If you would like more information about the accessibility of the route, please contact us at enquiries@janeaustens.house

Join inspiring calligraphy teacher Laura Edralin for a creative and mindful afternoon workshop focusing on brush pen calligraphy, exploring spring-themes and floral details.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s own perfect penmanship, and by the beautiful surroundings of her Chawton home, we will step away from the busyness of everyday life and immerse ourselves in the beauty and tranquillity of the spring countryside.

Passionate about helping people calm their minds and find their creative flow, Laura will introduce you to a beautiful brush script, ideal for beginners and calligraphy enthusiasts alike.

The afternoon will begin with a gentle walk in Jane Austen’s garden, led by Laura, drawing our attention to the plants and flowers emerging from the winter ground and celebrating the arrival of spring. Back in the cosy Learning Centre, we’ll refuel with tea and cake before incorporating the botanical and floral imagery we have seen into a calm and mindful calligraphy session – developed especially to support mental wellbeing and leave you with the skills to take home and continue your practice.

You’ll finish the session with a hand-made calligraphy bookmark – worthy of any Austen novel!

About the tutor:

London-based calligraphy artist and teacher Laura Edralin is known for her joyful, serene and mindful practice, under the name Laura Letters Life. She helps people tap into their inner creative, find a space to calm their busy lives and to re-connect – whether that’s with themselves, or with others. She offers public and private workshops, workplace sessions to help people get creative, and calligraphy services to provide a personal touch for events and more.

Details:
Date: Monday 5 May
Time: 1.30 – 4.30pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £65

 This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

‘As a house, Barton Cottage, though small, was comfortable and compact; but as a cottage it was defective, for the building was regular, the roof was tiled, the window shutters were not painted green, nor were the walls covered with honeysuckles.’

Sense and Sensibility

This very special virtual tour uses objects from our collection and the House itself to examine and celebrate Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility.

Following in Jane’s footsteps, you’ll discover the rooms where S&S was revised and edited, soon after Jane moved to Chawton in 1809.

Moving from room to room, you’ll discover how the House itself can help us understand the novel better, and objects in the collection that help the story come to life.

We’ll finish with a (virtual) look at one of our first editions of the novel up close – published on this very day in 1811!

This light-hearted and enjoyable event uses our beautiful virtual tour, teases out stories and objects that relate to Jane Austen’s classic work, and offers the opportunity to enjoy, examine and discuss Sense and Sensibility, and to experience Jane Austen’s House in a new way.

Details:
Date: Monday 5 May 2025
Time: 8pm – 9pm (BST)
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time.

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Sunday 4 May 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time.

Join us for a morning of your own sewing, knitting or embroidery in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, this session is open to all. 

Bring along your own project or dive into our work basket and help us with the museum’s mending.  

This session will take place in the cosy Learning Centre tucked behind Jane Austen’s House. We’ll provide fortifying tea and coffee to keep you going! 

Bring along your work in progress or start something new! 

Details:
Date: Tuesday 6 May
Time: 11am – 1pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select 6 May!

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Back by popular demand! In 2025 our Virtual Book Club will run monthly from February – November, covering all of Jane Austen’s novels as well as her teenage works and letters. Bring your thoughts, ideas and observations… bring tea and quotes and questions… expect stimulating discussion and debate!

Join us for our Virtual Book Club – a lively online space in which we will discuss all things Jane Austen!

Our fourth session will focus on Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility. 

We’ll get the ball rolling with questions, ideas and provocations about the novel and then it’s over to you – as a group we’ll share thoughts, theories, favourites and best-bits.

Whether you love the book, audiobook or a film or stage adaptation, join us to share your love of this internationally beloved story. Why does it matter to you? What have you learned from it? Which bits always make you cry? Which characters do you adore, admire or despise?

Grab a cup of tea and join us for an hour of blissful discussion with fellow Jane Austen fans around the world!

Details:
Date: Tuesday 6 May
Time: 7pm – 8pm (BST)
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £6.50

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Monday 5 May 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

This early-morning entry slot is intended for people who would prefer a quieter and calmer environment to experience the House.

During this time we will reduce capacity in the House so there will be fewer visitors. We will also make some changes to reduce sensory input, including turning off all audio and video screens in the House. If there are other changes that would make your visit easier, please contact us to let us know in advance.

As part of our early opening, you will be able to explore the House and garden, and have the opportunity to take part in some family friendly activities.

The Historic Kitchen will be reserved as a quiet area for those needing to take a break. In good weather you may also wish to sit in the garden, which is very peaceful.

You can check out the layout of the House in advance by looking at our virtual tour.

Quiet visits will be offered on the first Wednesday of each month, where possible.

Join the fabulous curator & historian of textiles, dress and design Amber Butchart for a fascinating exploration of Regency textiles and dress. Starting with the patchwork coverlet made by the Austen women, on display at Jane Austen’s House, Amber will take us on a globe-trotting virtual tour around the world as we discover how and where the fabrics that clothed Regency bodies and houses were produced, and how they were used.

Fresh from curating the upcoming exhibition Splash! A Century of Swimming & Style at the Design Museum in London, Amber will also shed some light on what Jane Austen and her characters would have worn to go sea bathing!

**This event is part of a Regency Dress double-bill – don’t forget to also join us for our second virtual talk: Useful things or contemptible articles?: Talk of flannel waistcoats on Saturday 10 May.**

~

Amber Butchart is a curator, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the cultural and political history of textiles, dress and design. She researches and presents documentaries for television and radio, including the six-part series A Stitch in Time for BBC Four that fused biography, art and the history of fashion to explore the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore, and she is the history consultant and regular on-screen historian for BBC One’s Great British Sewing Bee. She is a regular public lecturer across the UK’s leading arts institutions, and is an external adviser for the National Crime Agency as a Forensic Garment Analyst, working on cases that require investigation of clothing and textiles. Her books include The Fashion of Film, Nautical Chic, and Fashion Illustration in Britain: Society and the Seasons. She is currently a CHASE-funded PhD researcher in curating political textiles, and her latest exhibition, ‘Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style’ is running at the Design Museum in London from 28th March.

Details:
Date: Thursday 8 May 2025
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7 for this talk or £12 for both our Regency Dress talks! (please book ‘Regency Dress double bill’ to take advantage of the ticket offer)

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

This event will be recorded so you can watch again later. All ticket-holders will be emailed a link to the recording after the event. The recording will be accessible for one month.

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Wednesday 7 May 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

‘each of them was busy in arranging their particular concerns, and endeavoring, by placing around them books and other possessions, to form themselves a home. Marianne’s pianoforte was unpacked and properly disposed of; and Elinor’s drawings were affixed to the walls of their sitting room.’ ~ Sense and Sensibility

Join us for a quiet and creative drawing session in the beautiful grounds of Jane Austen’s House. Bring your own project or just start sketching!

This session will take place in the cosy Learning Centre tucked behind Jane Austen’s House. We’ll provide a quiet space in which to draw, pencils and cartridge paper, spring flowers to sketch if you are so inspired, and fortifying tea and coffee. 

Bring along your work in progress or start something new! 

Details:
Date: Friday 9 May
Time: 11am – 1pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select Friday 9th May!

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our  Spring Fling: Sense & Sensibility Festival, 1-11 May 2025.

Throughout her life, Jane Austen was surrounded by sisters – from her own beloved sister Cassandra, her honorary sisters Martha Lloyd and Fanny Knight, and her multiple sister-in laws! Sisters also abound in her novels, including the intimate relationships of Marianne and Elinor, and Lizzy and Jane. Although they are not always the most desirable of siblings…!

This exclusive, early-morning guided tour will celebrate sisters throughout Jane’s life and her novels. Led by an expert guide, in each room of the House you will discover objects and stories relating to Jane Austen’s family and characters.

The perfect event to enjoy with your own sister, be they real or honorary!

Details:
Date: Saturday 10 May
Times: 9-10am
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £19.50

Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

In this exclusive session you will examine a range of objects from the museum collection, under the guidance of our Collections team.

This special event will examine objects from the museum collection relating to music and artworks. Inspired by Elinor and Marianne’s artistic interests in Sense and Sensibility, we’ll be looking at objects including a book of manuscript music in Jane Austen’s own hand, Austen family artworks, illustrations for Jane Austen’s novels and early illustrated editions.

This event will be led by an expert on our collection who will guide you through the objects’ histories, their significance and how we care for them.

The group will be kept small, so there will be plenty of opportunities to see objects up close, ask questions and discuss as we go along.

Details:
Date: Saturday 10 May 2025
Time: 11am – 12.30pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £16.50

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

‘A stunning, sophisticated and thought-provoking journey through Austen’s life, written by a world expert.  This book is small but so, so beautiful, and utterly perfectly formed.‘ – Lucy Worsley

We are delighted to welcome our Esteemed Patroness, Professor Kathryn Sutherland, to introduce her new book Jane Austen in 41 Objects.

More than 200 years after Jane Austen’s death, we are still looking for clues about this extraordinary writer’s life. What might we learn if we take a glimpse inside the biographies of objects that crossed her path in life and afterwards – things that she cherished or cast aside, or that furnished the world in which she moved, or that have themselves been inspired by her legacy?

Kathryn will discuss some of the objects from the book, from the Jane Austen’s House collection – ranging from a muslin shawl to a wallpaper fragment, a tea caddy to the dining-room grate.

As so many of the objects featured in the book are in the Jane Austen’s House collection, this talk will be especially pertinent and fascinating to experience here. We may even get a few objects out from their storage boxes for you to see up close!

After the talk, join Kathryn for tea and cake, pick up a signed copy of Jane Austen in 41 Objects, and pop into the House to see more of the objects discussed.

Details:
Date: Saturday 10 May
Time: 3pm – 4pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £15

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements. 

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

“But he talked of flannel waistcoats,” said Marianne; “and with me a flannel waistcoat is invariably connected with aches, cramps, rheumatisms, and every species of ailment that can afflict the old and the feeble.”

Sense and Sensibility

Join us online for a fascinating talk by acclaimed fashion historian Hilary Davidson, as she explores the importance of Colonel Brandon’s underwear to wider British society in Jane Austen’s day.

Woollen flannel garments in the form of waistcoats, undershirts, drawers and petticoats for men and women were the hidden bulwark of British dressing during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Practical, prosaic and unromantic garments shielded their wearers’ bodies in exotic and domestic climes, providing protection during illness, military campaigning and social melees alike.

This talk will dive underneath the elegant outerwear we know so well and examine the undergarments that supported, protected and kept their wearers warm – with a particular nod to Colonel Brandon and the flannel waistcoat that Marianne so much despised.

**This event is part of a Regency Dress double-bill – don’t forget to also join us for our first virtual talk: Regency Textiles and Fashion with Amber Butchart on Thursday 8 May.**

~

Hilary Davidson is a dress, textiles and fashion historian and curator. Her work encompasses making and knowing, things and theory, with an extraordinary understanding of how historic clothing objects come to be and how they function in culture.

Hilary has worked, lectured, broadcast and taught internationally across a huge range of expertise, and is currently Chair of the MA Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory Museum Practice at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

Her publications include Dress in the Age of Jane Austen (2019) and Jane Austen’s Wardrobe (2023).

Details:
Date: Saturday 10 May 2025
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7 for this talk or £12 for both our Regency Dress talks!

**please click here and book ‘Regency Dress double bill’ to take advantage of the ticket offer**

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

This event will be recorded so you can watch again later. All ticket-holders will be emailed a link to the recording after the event. The recording will be accessible for one month.

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Friday 9 May 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

Story Journalling through Embroidery: Creating Your Own Story Reel with Helen Sill

In this full-day workshop, participants will use the rich world of Jane Austen’s novels and the historical charm of Jane Austen’s House and garden to create a unique embroidered story reel.

Inspirational stitch tutor Helen Sill will guide participants through an exploration of Jane Austen’s world, drawing inspiration from the charming cottage where Jane penned her iconic novels, set in its picture-perfect cottage garden, and elements from Jane Austen’s life and novels.

Weaving together historical embroidery techniques with a modern approach to storytelling through stitch, participants will engage in creative stitch journaling and embroidery to develop a textile story reel– a visual narrative crafted from hand-stitched images and words reflecting each participant’s unique responses to Jane Austen’s literary world.

By the end of the day, attendees will have created a one-of-a-kind embroidered piece that blends history, art, and personal interpretation.

All materials provided. Please bring a small basic sewing kit with embroidery scissors if you have one.

Refreshments will be provided, including morning tea/coffee and biscuits, and afternoon tea and cake. There will also be a lunchbreak when you can eat your own packed lunch or adjourn to get lunch elsewhere (we suggest the village cafe, Cassandra’s Cup, which is very close!)

~

About the tutor:

Helen Sill is an artist, researcher, tutor and textile traveller combining a love of drawing with textiles. She explores questions of identity through her art and stitch practice, creating images informed by drawings of her surroundings and connections between communities and cultures.

Helen is an Embroiderers’ Guild Graduate and Guild Scholar and recently completed a Masters Degree in Fine Art where her research interests were around making and community focusing on the rich textile traditions of Gujarat in North West India and the North East of England.

Past commissions have included work for West Dean Gardens, the Petersfield Museum and being Artist in Resident at Chichester Festival Theatre. Her work is held in private and public collections.

Her love of talking about and working with textiles is infectious and inspiring, and she teaches a range of hand stitch classes with recycling and upcycling at their core.

Helen fell in love with India when she first visited Gujarat and Agra in 2018 and now leads textile tours there, including tours to Rajasthan, Kolkata and Nagaland. Tours planned for 2025 and 2026 include Odisha and Uzbekistan. Find out more!

Details:
Date: Sunday 11th May 2025
Time: 10am – 4pm (including a lunch break)
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £65

 This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

On the last night of our Sense and Sensibility Festival, we are delighted to present a *very* special evening of Jane Austen and music…

We’ll begin with a ‘show and tell’ of musical artefacts from the museum collection… Gather round to examine one of Jane’s handwritten music books up close, along with printed music books that belonged to her and a precious first edition of Sense and Sensibility, under the expert guidance of our collections team. We’ll then move into the Drawing Room, where Jane herself practiced the piano each morning, for an intimate concert performed by acclaimed soprano Penelope Appleyard and concert pianist Jonathan Delbridge.

Sense and Musicality is a programme exploring the “head vs heart” love story of Jane Austen and music. Narrated semi-theatrically, the performance includes extracts from Jane’s novels and letters and an introduction to the square piano.

Beautiful, entertaining and informative, this innovative and intimate recital invites audiences into Jane Austen’s world to investigate her relationship with music, emotion and romance.

After the performance, join us for drinks in the Historic Kitchen and raise a glass to our favourite authoress!

About the performers:

Penelope Appleyard has performed at prestigious venues internationally as both soloist and ensemble singer, ensembles including Apollo5, the Taverner Consort, the Monteverdi Choir, The New London Consort, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Wiener Akademie, Arcangelo, Armonico Consort, Ex Cathedra and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among others, and  appears on numerous recordings. Operatic roles have included Cupid (Venus and Adonis) Dorinda (The Tempest) Shepherdess and Siren (King Arthur) Bonvica (Bonduca) Pallas (Judgement of Paris) Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas) Mopsa (Fairy Queen) and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas). Solo concert work has included Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music, Bach’s B minor Mass at the Bologna Festival, Arne’s Alfred with Steven Devine, Monteverdi Vespers with Laurence Cummings, King Arthur for the Brighton Early Music Festival and Messiah as a Nevill Holt Young Artist.

“The lovely soprano voice of Penelope Appleyard” – The Classical Review

Jonathan Delbridge is well known for his exciting and varied concert programmes on both the piano and organ. He is a versatile musician, performing major classical works, jazz standards and his own improvisations and likes to interact with the audience, giving background information to the pieces performed. Jonathan regularly performs at a wide range of small and large venues, from the Royal Albert Hall, and Birmingham Symphony Hall to Plymouth University and All Saints Church in his own village of Lopen, Somerset. He also has a beautifully restored 1814 Broadwood Square Piano which he uses to provide a unique concert experience in more intimate settings.

Details:
Date: Sunday 11 May
Time: 6pm – 7.30pm followed by drinks
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us. 
Tickets: £75
*This event has now sold out*

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Back by popular demand! In 2025 our Virtual Book Club will run monthly from February – November, covering all of Jane Austen’s novels as well as her teenage works and letters. Bring your thoughts, ideas and observations… bring tea and quotes and questions… expect stimulating discussion and debate!

Join us for our Virtual Book Club – a lively online space in which we will discuss all things Jane Austen!

Our fifth session will focus on Jane Austen’s third published novel, Mansfield Park. 

We’ll get the ball rolling with questions, ideas and provocations about the novel and then it’s over to you – as a group we’ll share thoughts, theories, favourites and best-bits.

Whether you love the book, audiobook or a film or stage adaptation, join us to share your love of this internationally beloved story. Why does it matter to you? What have you learned from it? Which bits always make you cry? Which characters do you adore, admire or despise?

Grab a cup of tea and join us for an hour of blissful discussion with fellow Jane Austen fans around the world!

Details:

Date: Tuesday 3 June 2024

Time: 7pm – 8pm (BST)

Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!

Tickets: £6.50 

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (BST) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Monday 2 June 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

This early-morning entry slot is intended for people who would prefer a quieter and calmer environment to experience the House.

During this time we will reduce capacity in the House so there will be fewer visitors. We will also make some changes to reduce sensory input, including turning off all audio and video screens in the House. If there are other changes that would make your visit easier, please contact us to let us know in advance.

As part of our early opening, you will be able to explore the House and garden, and have the opportunity to take part in some family friendly activities.

The Historic Kitchen will be reserved as a quiet area for those needing to take a break. In good weather you may also wish to sit in the garden, which is very peaceful.

You can check out the layout of the House in advance by looking at our virtual tour.

Quiet visits will be offered on the first Wednesday of each month, where possible.

Join us for a guided walk through of our beautiful virtual tour!

VISIT JANE AUSTEN’S HOUSE FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME!

**Included in Forbes list of the World’s Best Virtual Tours!**

Join us for this exclusive online event, hosted by an expert guide from Jane Austen’s House, who will use our beautiful virtual tour to show you around the House and outbuildings. As part of a small group, you will enjoy a guided walk through of our virtual tour with lots of opportunities to chat and to ask questions.

Details:
Date: Saturday 21 June 2025
Time: 7-8pm (BST)
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7.00

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. Please check your junk folders!

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Friday 20 June 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

Join us for an exclusive, early-morning tour of the house Jane Austen knew and loved.

In this exclusive, early-morning tour, we’ll be unlocking doors, opening shutters and letting sunshine into the darkened rooms. Join us for a curatorial journey as we dust, polish and check that everything is in order to start the day. Along the way, we’ll share secrets and stories of this extraordinary house through the ages.

After the tour, you’ll enjoy a light breakfast of tea and English muffins – just as Jane used to do!

Date: Tuesday 24 June 2025

Time: 9am – 10:30am

Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.

Tickets: £25.00

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

 Your ticket includes a House tour, followed by a light breakfast of English muffins, butter and preserves, and a choice of tea or coffee. If you have any dietary requirements, please let us know after booking.

Capacity for this event will be kept very low to make it a truly special experience.

In this unique event, join acclaimed Regency fashion historian Hilary Davidson for an exclusive guided tour of the textiles and dress related objects showcased throughout Jane Austen’s House, from the needle case that Jane gave to her niece to her own hand-embroidered muslin shawl.

As part of a small group, enjoy exclusive access to Jane Austen’s House when it is closed to the public, with plenty of time to chat and ask questions of an extremely knowledgeable guide!

After the tour, you’ll enjoy a glass of wine in the Historic Kitchen and have the chance to chat to Hilary about all things Regency dress!

Details:
Date: Friday 27 June 2025
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Location: This event takes place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £35

Capacity for each tour will be kept low in order to allow for the best possible experience. 

This tour will begin promptly.  Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group. Latecomers may not be admitted.

The tour will finish with a glass of wine or a non-alcoholic alternative. Please let us know of any dietary requirements upon booking.

In this fun and friendly workshop you will make your own Empire-waist, Regency-style gown in a weekend! Under the guidance of super stitchers Alice and Ginny, you will make a simple toile (mock up) of your gown to ensure the best fit, you’ll then make any necessary pattern alterations, cut your fabric and sew your gown, finishing it with a gathered bust and ribbons or lace trimming.

Bring along your own fabric to make your dream dress! A printed cotton or silk would work well – you could even use a duvet cover or vintage tablecloth! We will provide trimmings and fastenings if you need them.

Please bring your own small sewing kit and sewing machine if possible, if not we will have some available to borrow – please contact us on booking to reserve one.

A full list of what to bring with you will be provided after booking, including fabric suggestions and measurements of fabric needed.

Each day will run from 10am – 4pm, with tea and coffee provided throughout the day to keep you going! There will also be a 45 minute lunchbreak each day – bring your own packed lunch to enjoy in the garden or pop over the road to Cassandra’s Cup to purchase lunch.

Alice and Ginny run fun, sociable sewing classes and workshops. They are specialists at getting you started with sewing machine skills and core sewing techniques, and will support you on each step of your sewing journey helping you turn your sewing ideas into a reality.

The workshop capacity will be limited to just six people, so you will get lots of one-on-one guidance and help!

This workshop is suitable for all abilities – beginners welcome!

Details:
Dates: 28 – 29 June
Times: 10 – 4pm (both days)
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House.  Find us. 
Tickets: £150
*This event has now sold out*

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event days only.

Suitable for ages 16+

‘I do not want any such pursuit to get me out of doors. The pleasure of walking and breathing fresh air is enough for me, and in fine weather I am out more than half my time. Mamma says I am never within.’
Northanger Abbey

This fun, relaxed guided walk will take you back in time, to discover the village Jane Austen knew and loved. Walk in Jane’s footsteps and learn about her love of nature, village life, houses and views she knew, and the importance of village life in shaping her writing.

Throughout the walk, short readings from Austen’s letters and novels will bring her world to life.

Your event ticket also includes House admission so you can explore the House that Jane knew and loved, and enjoy the pretty cottage garden, vintage garden games and family activities.

After the walk, why not enjoy a well-earned cup of tea at Cassandra’s Cup, opposite the Museum? (Bookings must be made separately, visit Cassandra’s Cup website)

Details:
Date: Saturday 28 June 2025
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm
Location: This event starts from Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £25, or £15 for annual pass holders

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

The guided walk will depart from Jane Austen’s House at 11.30am promptly. Please make sure you arrive in good time to join the group.

 The walk is suitable for all abilities, but please wear sturdy, sensible footwear and bring a bottle of water and sun cream or an umbrella – depending on the weather!

This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event day. 

Accessibility: This walk is primarily along pavements, however there are some uneven areas and one stop is on grass. It may not be suitable for wheelchairs or mobility scooters. If you would like more information about the accessibility of the route, please contact us at enquiries@janeaustens.house

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

Join us for a very special guided tour of Jane Austen’s House. As part of a small group, you will enjoy an early morning tour of the House before it is open to the public.

Explore the House, walking in Jane Austen’s footsteps through rooms that she knew and loved. In each room, you’ll discover precious objects from Jane Austen’s life, from her father’s Mahogany bookcase to her sister Cassandra’s hand-stitched sampler and the topaz crosses belonging to Jane and Cassandra, to first editions of her novels and her own hand-written music books.

With plenty of opportunities to chat and ask questions along the way, this unique tour will transport you back in time to get a sense of Regency life and to experience the House in a new way.

Details:
Date: Sunday 29 June 2025
Time: 9am – 10:00am
Location: This event takes place at Jane Austen’s House. Find us
Tickets: £19.50

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

Capacity for this event will be kept very low to make it a truly special experience.

Back by popular demand! In 2025 our Virtual Book Club will run monthly from February – November, covering all of Jane Austen’s novels as well as her teenage works and letters. Bring your thoughts, ideas and observations… bring tea and quotes and questions… expect stimulating discussion and debate!

Join us for our Virtual Book Club – a lively online space in which we will discuss all things Jane Austen!

Our sixth session will focus on Jane Austen’s ‘perfect’ summertime novel, Emma. 

We’ll get the ball rolling with questions, ideas and provocations about the novel and then it’s over to you – as a group we’ll share thoughts, theories, favourites and best-bits.

Whether you love the book, audiobook or a film or stage adaptation, join us to share your love of this internationally beloved story. Why does it matter to you? What have you learned from it? Which bits always make you cry? Which characters do you adore, admire or despise?

Grab a cup of tea and join us for an hour of blissful discussion with fellow Jane Austen fans around the world!

Details:
Date: Tuesday 1 July 2025
Time: 7pm – 8pm (BST)
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £6.50

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (GMT) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time.

This event is part of our Emma Festival running from 12 – 20 July 

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Monday 31 June 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

This early-morning entry slot is intended for people who would prefer a quieter and calmer environment to experience the House.

During this time we will reduce capacity in the House so there will be fewer visitors. We will also make some changes to reduce sensory input, including turning off all audio and video screens in the House. If there are other changes that would make your visit easier, please contact us to let us know in advance.

As part of our early opening, you will be able to explore the House and garden, and have the opportunity to take part in some family friendly activities.

The Historic Kitchen will be reserved as a quiet area for those needing to take a break. In good weather you may also wish to sit in the garden, which is very peaceful.

You can check out the layout of the House in advance by looking at our virtual tour.

Quiet visits will be offered on the first Wednesday of each month, where possible.

‘Donwell was famous for its strawberry-beds, which seemed a plea for the invitation: but no plea was necessary; cabbage-beds would have been enough to tempt the lady, who only wanted to be going somewhere’
Emma

Join us for a unique guided tour of Jane Austen’s House. Walking in Jane’s footsteps, you’ll discover the rooms where Emma was written and learn about her inspirations for the novel.

This unique tour of the House will reveal new aspects of this beloved novel, told by an expert guide, using the House itself and objects from the collection to set the scene.

This is a unique opportunity to enjoy, examine and discuss Emma with Museum staff and fellow Jane Austen enthusiasts – and to indulge our love of the well-meaning but misguided heroine of whom Jane Austen famously declared ‘no one but myself will much like.’

As part of a small group, enjoy exclusive access to Jane Austen’s House before it opens to the public, with plenty of time to chat and ask questions of our knowledgeable guide.

Details:
Date: Saturday 12 July
Time: 9am – 10am
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: £19.50

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

 Capacity for this event will be kept very low to make it a truly special experience.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

‘Yes, yes, we will have a Pianoforte, as good a one as can be got for 30 Guineas — & I will practise country dances, that we may have some amusement for our nephews & neices, when we have the pleasure of their company.’ 

Jane Austen, 28 December 1808  

Throughout our Emma Festival, we will welcome competent pianists who wish to practice on our 1813 Clementi square piano for an hour each morning – just as Jane Austen used to do. 

The first hour of the day will be devoted to piano practice in the Drawing Room. The House will be open to visitors, so if you wish to play, please be prepared for an appreciative audience!  

We will provide a selection of sheet music from the period, as well as printed copies of Jane Austen’s handwritten music books, so you can practice the songs that Jane herself played in this very room, should you wish to. We are also very happy for you to play from your own repertoire, although we do ask that you choose appropriate music to play. 

Find out more about our Clementi square piano.

Details:
Dates: 12-20 July 2025
Times: 10am – 11am daily
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us. 
Tickets: £17.50 (to include entry to Jane Austen’s House) / £5 if you have an annual pass

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, 12-20 July 2025.

Join us for a gorgeously indulgent morning of chatting about Clueless! – everyone’s favourite 90s reimagining of Emma set in the L.A. hills, now a cult classic.

To celebrate the film’s 30^th anniversary we’re establishing a one-time-only Clueless Club! Join like-minded fans over coffee and doughnuts and enjoy sharing your favourite quotes, characters and scenes, analyse costumes and casting (a little swoon over Paul Rudd is totally permissible). We’ll also be setting up a little Clueless photo station and we’ll end with a pop quiz for some totally awesome Clueless prizes!

Before or after the event, drop into the House to see our 2025 exhibition Austenmania! celebrating the four Austen adaptations of 1995 – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion and Clueless! 

Details:
Dates: Sat 12 July
Time: 11am – 12pm
Location: This event takes place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £25

This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event day only.

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

This event is part of our Emma Festival running from 12 – 20 July

Drop into a free, pop up talk celebrating the 30^th anniversary of Clueless! a brilliant reimagining of Emma set in the L.A. hills that is now a cult classic.

Details:
Dates: 12 – 20 July, daily
Time: 2pm – 2.15pm
Location: Historic Kitchen
Free, with House admission

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your tickets to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

Our popular ‘Reading Aloud’ evenings take inspiration from Jane Austen’s own habit of reading her own works to family and friends in the Drawing Room of Jane Austen’s House.

 This event will focus on Jane’s perfect summer novel, Emma. As part of a small and exclusive audience, you’ll settle down for a lively reading by fantastic actors Hollie Hales and Adam Cunis – bringing Jane Austen’s beloved story to life.

As a master of dialogue, Jane Austen’s works are best enjoyed out loud, and this delightful performance will bring the characters alive in the very room in which Jane gave voice to them herself.

After the reading, we’ll enjoy a drinks in the Historic Kitchen and toast our inimitable and extraordinary authoress.

Details:
Date: Saturday 12 July
Performance times: 6pm – 7pm OR 7.45pm – 8.45pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £35

This event includes refreshments, please let us know on booking if you have any dietary requirements.

This event is part of our Emma Festival running from 12 – 20 July

About the performers:

Hollie Hales trained at RADA. Her recent audio work includes Tales of a Monstrous Heart by Jennifer Delaney, Bookishly Ever After by Mia Page (Audible) and Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire “The Gordon Riots” podcast.

Adam Cunis’s recent work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bridge Theatre), Macbeth Storytelling (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) and The Woman in the Moon (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse).

In this exclusive session you will examine a range of objects from the museum collection, under the guidance of our Collections team.

This special event will explore objects from the museum collection relating to Emma, including a rare first edition of the novel, original illustrations and costume designs. Inspired by Emma’s attempts as an artist we’ll also examine some Austen family artworks, and inspired by Harriet’s book of riddles, we’ll share a collection of Austen family charades.

This event will be led by an expert on our collection who will guide you through the objects’ histories, their significance and how we care for them.

The group will be kept small, so there will be plenty of opportunities to see objects up close, ask questions and discuss as we go along.

Details:
Date: Sunday 13 July 2025
Time: 11am – 12.30pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us
Tickets: £19.50

 Tickets for this event include House entry for this day only. 

 This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

‘How do you like my trimming?’: Accessories, Making and Jane Austen’s Novels

We are delighted to welcome acclaimed Austen scholar Professor Jennie Batchelor for a fascinating and intimate evening talk in the Drawing Room of Jane Austen’s House, examining the needlework that Jane Austen practiced in the home and the important role that stitched items and embroidered accessories play in her novels.

On 2 June 1799, during a stay in Bath, Jane Austen wrote Cassandra a typically newsy letter about visits made, conversations had, walks taken, and the business of getting, maintaining and making clothes and accessories. Responding to Cassandra’s latest, in which she learned that two friends had asked for the ‘pattern of our caps’, Jane is initially ‘quite pleased’ by the request before flattery turns to reproach: ‘I am not so well pleased with you giving it to them’. Knowing someone wants to emulate you is one thing. Having them wear the same thing, cut to the same style and embroidered or ‘worked’ – to use the language of the day – after the same fashion was another.

Jennie Batchelor is an academic, author and speaker. She is Head of Department and Professor of Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Studies at the University of York, and Patron of the Kent branch of the Jane Austen Society. She has written and edited several books on women’s writing, eighteenth-century dress and early women’s magazines, including the perennial favourite Jane Austen Embroidery – a unique book showcasing recently discovered 18th century embroidery patterns expertly repurposed into 15 exciting modern stitching projects. The patterns and projects are brought to life with glimpses into the world of Regency women and their domestic lives by lively historical features, quotes from Jane Austen’s letters and novels, enchanting illustrations and inspirational project photography.

~

This event will be filmed for an online audience (watch this space for details!), but a small number of tickets are also available for the live event! As our live audience you will enjoy special access, you’ll be invited to ask questions, and you’ll enjoy the unique atmosphere of Jane Austen’s House out of normal opening hours.

After the talk, join us for drinks in the Historic Kitchen and raise a glass to our favourite authoress!

Details:
Date: Sunday 13 July
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: £35

 This event will include a glass of wine or non-alcoholic alternative. Please let us know of any dietary requirements upon booking.

Capacity for this event is very limited, to allow for the event to be filmed in our historic Drawing Room. Seating will be arranged around the filming equipment.

As this event will be filmed, unfortunately latecomers cannot be admitted. Please arrive in good time to take your seat.

The House will be closed for this event so access will be restricted to the Drawing Room, where the talk takes place. General House entry is not included with the event ticket.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

Join us for a morning of your own sewing, knitting or embroidery in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, this session is open to all. 

Bring along your own project or dive into our work basket and help us with the museum’s mending.  

This session will take place in the cosy Learning Centre tucked behind Jane Austen’s House. We’ll provide fortifying tea and coffee to keep you going! 

Bring along your work in progress or start something new! 

Details:
Date: Tuesday 15 July
Time: 11am – 1pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select 15 July!

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

‘Donwell was famous for its strawberry-beds, which seemed a plea for the invitation: but no plea was necessary; cabbage-beds would have been enough to tempt the lady, who only wanted to be going somewhere’
Emma

Join us for a unique guided tour of Jane Austen’s House. Walking in Jane’s footsteps, you’ll discover the rooms where Emma was written and learn about her inspirations for the novel.

This unique tour of the House will reveal new aspects of this beloved novel, told by an expert guide, using the House itself and objects from the collection to set the scene.

This is a unique opportunity to enjoy, examine and discuss Emma with Museum staff and fellow Jane Austen enthusiasts – and to indulge our love of the well-meaning but misguided heroine of whom Jane Austen famously declared ‘no one but myself will much like.’

As part of a small group, enjoy exclusive access to Jane Austen’s House after hours, with plenty of time to chat and ask questions of our knowledgeable guide.

Details:
Date: Tuesday 15 July
Time: 4.30pm – 5.30pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: £19.50

Please click through the calendar and select the correct date when booking this event.

 Capacity for this event will be kept very low to make it a truly special experience.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

‘the prospect of spending future summers by the Sea or in Wales is very delightful’
Jane Austen, Saturday 3 January 1801

Jane Austen loved going on holiday. In 1805 she wrote to her sister Cassandra ‘I dare say You are already the better for a change of place’ – showing that she understood how a change of location can benefit our happiness and wellbeing.

In this summery talk, we’ll explore Jane Austen’s relationship with the seaside, from Dawlish and Worthing to Lyme Regis and Brighton. We’ll follow her into the bathing machine, enjoy a bracing coastal walk, and visit the circulating library – there might even be a holiday romance!

DETAILS:
Date: Tuesday 15 July
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Location: This event takes place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7

This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. Please check your junk folders!

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

This event is part of our Emma Festival running from 12 – 20 July

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Monday 14 July 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time. 

‘each of them was busy in arranging their particular concerns, and endeavoring, by placing around them books and other possessions, to form themselves a home. Marianne’s pianoforte was unpacked and properly disposed of; and Elinor’s drawings were affixed to the walls of their sitting room.’ ~ Sense and Sensibility

Join us for a quiet and creative drawing session in the beautiful grounds of Jane Austen’s House. Bring your own project or just start sketching!

This session will take place in the cosy Learning Centre tucked behind Jane Austen’s House. We’ll provide a quiet space in which to draw, pencils and cartridge paper, summer flowers from the garden to sketch if you are so inspired, and fortifying tea and coffee. 

Bring along your work in progress or start something new! 

Details:
Date: Wednesday 16 July
Time: 11am – 1pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select 16 July!

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025

Join us for a quiet and inspiring creative writing session in the beautiful grounds of Jane Austen’s House. No need to book – just drop in and write!   

This session will take place in the cosy Learning Centre tucked behind Jane Austen’s House. We’ll provide a quiet space in which to write, pens and paper, access to our extensive reference library, and fortifying tea and coffee. 

Bring along your work in progress or start something new! 

Details:
Date: Thursday 17 July
Time: 11am – 1pm
Location: This event will take place at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Find us.
Tickets: Free with House admission – book general admission here – please make sure you select 17 July!

No event ticket required, this event is free with House entry.

Please select the correct date and time slot when booking your general admission ticket to enjoy this event.

This event is part of our Emma Festival, running from 12 – 20 July 2025