Special experiences at Jane Austen’s House

Private Tours

We are delighted to offer a range of exclusive, out of hours guided tours of Jane Austen’s House for your small group.

Tours are led by an expert staff member who will guide you through Jane Austen’s life, house, works and legacy, with plenty of opportunities to chat and ask questions.

All tours last one hour and are suitable for groups up to a maximum of 10 people.

Choose from our themed tours:

Introduction to Jane Austen’s House: The perfect introductory tour! Join an expert guide for a walk around the house Jane Austen knew and loved. Learn about her life and works, how she came to live in Chawton and how this house inspired her writing.

Pride and Prejudice Tour: A tour of the house focusing on Jane Austen’s beloved novel, Pride & Prejudice. In each room, discover objects, paintings and stories that reveal the themes, characters and events of the novel, and the story of its first publication.

Sense and Sensibility Tour: In this special tour, discover the rooms where Sense and Sensibility was revised and edited, soon after moving 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.

Mansfield Park Tour: This tour follows the story of Jane Austen’s mature and serious third novel, showcasing objects that relate to it. Explore 200 years of Mansfield Park history and discover the rooms in which Jane Austen wrote the novel and from which it was published.

Emma Tour: A fun, summery tour of the House, in which you’ll discover the rooms where Emma was written and learn about Jane Austen’s inspirations for the novel, the story of its publication and dedication to the Prince Regent.

Northanger Abbey Tour: A tour that reveals the themes, characters and events of Jane Austen’s youthful, spoof-Gothic novel, Northanger Abbey. Discover the rooms where Northanger Abbey was revised and edited, and follow Jane’s creative journey from first draft to final publication. Examine items of furniture that populated her childhood home, books that she was inspired by, portraits of people she knew and objects that help the story come to life.

‘Waking Up the House’ Tour: 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.

Group size: Private tours are perfect for a small group of friends or family. The maximum group size we can accommodate is 10 people.

Timing: Private tours take place outside our usual opening hours. Best availability is from October – March. Please contact us for more information and availability.

Refreshments: After your tour, we can arrange refreshments for your group – choose from tea and coffee, or wine and soft drinks. Please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

Pricing:

Per group of 1-5 people: £300

Per group of 6-10 people: £600

Austen Treasures

We offer a small number of Austen Treasures events each year. In this exclusive event, we offer you the chance to view and handle some of the treasures of our collection up close.

Choose from our three themed Treasures events:

Obstinate Headstrong Girls: examine a rare first edition of Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, and a striking letter she wrote to the Prince Regent’s librarian defending her writing style. Along the way we’ll view her handwritten music book and a lock of her hair, treasured by her family.

Ode to Autumn: examine objects relating to Jane Austen’s last published novel, Persuasion, including a rare first edition, the first French edition, and one of Jane’s personal letters. We’ll also look at a precious family portrait, a hand-carved letter case, and an eighteenth century Navy List.

Pride and Prejudice: examine a rare first edition of the novel, a personal letter from Jane to her sister Cassandra discussing it’s publication, her own reactions and her first reading aloud to a neighbour. We’ll move on to notable editions, from the first American edition of the novel to the celebrated Peacock edition, and twentieth century editions, including a remarkable handwritten copy of the novel. (Available from April 2024)

Each special event will be led by an expert on our collection who will guide you through Jane Austen’s life, works and legacy, via these precious objects.

Group size: this event is perfectly suited to 2-3 people, to allow everyone the space to handle objects, ask questions and discuss as we go along. The maximum capacity is six people.

Refreshments: This very special event will include welcome refreshments, including a glass of bubbly to toast our favourite authoress!

Pricing:

1-3 people: £175 per person

4-6 people: £145 per person

Enquiries and booking

Please note that we require at least one month’s notice for all private bookings.

We will do our best to accommodate your wishes and to make your private event an incredibly special experience, however we are a small team with a small site, so timings and dates may be limited. Please discuss your preferred dates with us in the first instance, and give us as much notice as possible.

Please email enquiries@janeaustens.house with all booking enquiries.