Year 10 visit to Jane Austen’s House (From Elmbridge Guardian)

Year 10 visit to Jane Austen’s House

8:40pm Thursday 4th February 2010

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By Community Correspondent Rosie Morris

On arriving at the house, we were given an introductory talk by one of the ladies who works there who was clearly a Jane Austen expert! We were then given free rein to explore her cottage and enjoyed learning about the life of the author and saw key items which featured in her life such as her famous writing table and quill. Some of us were even lucky enough to have a go on the ancient piano which Jane Austen herself played. My favourite part of the visit was seeing some of the costumes laid out that were typical of the period, many of which had been used in recent TV and film adaptations.

Once we left the house, however, our trip was not yet over. We enjoyed the short walk through the village to Chawton House and Library which was once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward, who was adopted by rich relatives. We were given a quick tour around the house (which was very different to Jane’s) and shown some early examples of gothic literature in the library. Finally, we experienced the highlight of our trip: Regency Dancing. Our initial reluctance was forgotten as we put on elaborate Regency style dresses and tail coats and were shown how to do a simple dance which often took place at the balls so popular in Jane Austen’s life and novels.

Everyone had an excellent time and the trip really helped us to learn about the background to Jane Austen’s work. We would like to thank the English teachers for organising this trip.

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