Being one of England's most fabulously popular authors, Jane Austen fans flock to sites and sights associated with her and her works. A large operator tour operator has announced a Jane Austin Walking Tour in Hampshire to cater to Austen fans - stops include Steventon, a childhood home, Oakley Hall - a humumgous manor house that is thought to have inspired "Mansfield Park" and her home in Chawton, Winchester Cathedral, where she is buried, and other Austen sites.

Whilst i am not too keen on organized tours folks who are into both walking thru mellow idyllic countryside and Austen buffs may want to organize their own walk, over Britain's fantastic network of footpaths, to check out Austen sites/sights.

Jane Austen - about as a good commercial entity as the Royal Family it seems in bringing tourists into Brtain?

I am so THERE. Pal, you knew I would bite ;-).

Why bother?

Just buy 'In the Steps of Jane Austen: Town and Country Walks' by Anne-Marie Edwards and do it yourself. Second hand copies all over Amazon.

About £10. Less than many Americans will feel morally obliged to tip a tour driver every day.

The only small problem: in a county with as many lovely paths as Hampshire, Ms Austen seems to have gone out of her way to have chosen the dullest stretches of countryside to be associated with.

So one addition I bet's not in the tour. Go up to the Cotswolds. Just before the turnoff the A44 for Chipping Camdpen, go to Adlestrop and do the walk round there. Doubly distinguished from a literary point of view. Austen's uncle was vicar there, she's known to have visited at least three times and bits of Mansfield Park are supposed to have been modelled on it.

Second is Edward Thomas' WW1 poem about the station. Some pillock closed the station (though, mercifully, not the line: the most important in Britain). But the station sign, in its wonderful GWR colouring, is still at the bus stop.

Do they make the ladies wear poke bonnets, and the gentlemen dive into ponds?

Patrick, if so, then I am REALLY there! The men have to look like Colin Firth though.

Well one advantage of the group tour is hyped in their brochure:

"includes an intirguing virtual undressing of the character Mr Darcy for fans of Pride and Prejuidice, thanks to a costume historian who will uncover the complicated layers of 18th-century male attire"

Q - how far does the undressing go?

judyrem - AND Ciaran Hinds!

Oh yes sheri, I love him too. Pal, ooooohhhh, yes....costume historians! Cravats, Hessians, breeches...oh my!

I've wanted to visit Chawton for a long time; I think I once read here about the public transportation options to do it as a daytrip from London.

Somewhat off topic but I suspect Jane Austin fans will read this thread. If any fans are in (or planning a visit to) NYC, there is currently an exhibit at the Morgan Library "A Women's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and legacy" until March 14, 2010.
http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions...tion.asp?id=22

Please God no.

Come on, CW, let's go!!

Sheri, Margaret, that sounds fascinating.

Shhhssh CW is sleeping now. ;-)

Elaine, here's a link to the public transportation options for Chawton:

http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/

Lee Ann

thanks, will take a look

>>"includes an intirguing virtual undressing of the character Mr Darcy for fans of Pride and Prejuidice, thanks to a costume historian who will uncover the complicated layers of 18th-century male attire"

Q - how far does the undressing go?<<

Clearly a niche in the market for someone, given that, as I understand it, the conventional model for a male stripper is still vaguely Chippendale-ish. Mind you, it could be a rather long performance: and finding the right music could be a problem (you don't get harpsichords in many Essex nightclubs, I believe).