The Jane Austen House Museum : Hampshire, 2017
During the summer I went on a day out to the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton. The house was opened to the public in 1949 and is where Austen spent the majority of the last eight years of her life, except for the two months before she died which were spent in nearby Winchester. She shared the house in Chawton with her mother, her sister Cassandra and their friend Martha Lloyd. It is the only place where Austen lived currently open to the public and where she wrote and edited most of her novels ... novels you should definitely read; my personal favorite is Emma.
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| The Jane Austen House Museum taken from "Cassandra's Cup." Copyright Much Ado About Travelling |
We started the trip by watching a short video on Jane Austen's life in one of the outhouses and then, as it was a relatively busy summer day, we had to wait outside for a few minutes before we could enter the house as they limit the amount of people allowed inside at once. As it was one of England's rare sunny days it was a nice excuse to look around the lovely garden which was full of local wildflowers. There were also some rather peculiar book-shaped benches which I wasn't entirely convinced by. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I have no pictures of these.
The museum had a good mixture of history on Austen herself and of the publishing process of her books (and some fun activities too - dress up may have been included). However, as it is an old house there wasn't anything in the way of wheelchair access other than on the ground floor, meaning I had to walk up the stairs and stay on my feet for quite a long time looking around which was very fatiguing.
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| Writing Desk at the Jane Austen House Museum. Copyright Much Ado About Travelling |
There isn't a cafe on site, but there is "Cassandra's Cup" right across the road where we had lunch. We sat outside where it was a bit quieter and soaked up some sun, whilst trying to keep away from a few overly friendly wasps.
When Jane Austen lived in the house it was owned by her brother Edward, who had been adopted by the wealthy Knight family to be their heir. As his inheritance he had recieved the Chawton Estate nearby, which is also open to the public as the Chawton House Library.
As it was such a lovely sunny day and it was only a few roads away we decided to walk (be pushed) there as well to have a look around. Chawton village seemed like it had been pulled straight out of one of Austen's books. We obviously went on a day that there was some sort of old motoring group trip as we saw quite a few of these:
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| Copyright Much Ado About Travelling |
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| Copyright Much Ado About Travelling |
Although Chawton House is still family-owned, there is currently a long term lease (100 years or something similar) to a woman who is dedicating it to collecting early women's writings. As part of this there was an exhibition comparing the life and career of Jane Austen to that of french writer Germaine de Staël, which was really interesting - what I took in of it, at least. Unfortunately there was limited wheelchair accessibility here too, meaning I was on my feet again. As a result I was pretty much exhausted by this point and took in little of what was on display.
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| Chawton House Library. Copyright Much Ado About Travelling |
To finish the trip we stopped off in the onsite cafe to refuel before heading to the car park and home.
Wheelchair 2/5:
As previously said, wheelchair access to both sites was severely limited and this was the biggest problem for me on the trip. So much of my energy had to go into walking around the sites that I struggled to process a lot of what was on display. Another big problem was the walk between the sites, although most of the way was on pavement, Chawton House Library had a very long drive which consisted of a gravel path or grassy verges, neither of which the X-Mobile (my wheelchair) coped with very well. The website does say that there is disabled parking by the house, so that may have been a better choice. The main parking for the Jane Austen House Museum was just across the road, by the cafe. Again, the website says disabled parking is available but it doesn't specify where.
As previously said, wheelchair access to both sites was severely limited and this was the biggest problem for me on the trip. So much of my energy had to go into walking around the sites that I struggled to process a lot of what was on display. Another big problem was the walk between the sites, although most of the way was on pavement, Chawton House Library had a very long drive which consisted of a gravel path or grassy verges, neither of which the X-Mobile (my wheelchair) coped with very well. The website does say that there is disabled parking by the house, so that may have been a better choice. The main parking for the Jane Austen House Museum was just across the road, by the cafe. Again, the website says disabled parking is available but it doesn't specify where.
Sensory Input 4/5:
Jane Austen's house is relatively small for a museum, meaning a trip could be kept quite short. Seeing the video before entering the house was helpful for me as it meant I could skip some of the descriptions inside which I found harder to process. Although there was a lot of objects on display throughout it was easy to select specific bits to look at. Things were laid out well so as to not be overwhelming. The staggered entry meant that it never got too busy inside. Chawton House Library was a much larger space and so there was more to process, especially if you wanted to take in all of the paintings/decor as well as the displays. However, Chawton House had far viewer visitors and so was quite a bit quieter. Being wood paneled it was much darker inside Chawton House Library than at the Jane Austen House which was quite bright.
Jane Austen's house is relatively small for a museum, meaning a trip could be kept quite short. Seeing the video before entering the house was helpful for me as it meant I could skip some of the descriptions inside which I found harder to process. Although there was a lot of objects on display throughout it was easy to select specific bits to look at. Things were laid out well so as to not be overwhelming. The staggered entry meant that it never got too busy inside. Chawton House Library was a much larger space and so there was more to process, especially if you wanted to take in all of the paintings/decor as well as the displays. However, Chawton House had far viewer visitors and so was quite a bit quieter. Being wood paneled it was much darker inside Chawton House Library than at the Jane Austen House which was quite bright.
Food and other facilities 4/5:
For food there is "Cassandra's Cup" directly across the road to the Jane Austen House Museum which had a nice selection. It was quite busy, being the nearest place for food. However, sitting outside it wasn't too much to deal with. At Chawton House Library there is a small cafe. There are only a few tables and it's in a nice open room so it was relatively easy to deal with (although this was in the middle of the afternoon, not lunchtime peak), especially as, by the point we got there, I was very exhausted.
For food there is "Cassandra's Cup" directly across the road to the Jane Austen House Museum which had a nice selection. It was quite busy, being the nearest place for food. However, sitting outside it wasn't too much to deal with. At Chawton House Library there is a small cafe. There are only a few tables and it's in a nice open room so it was relatively easy to deal with (although this was in the middle of the afternoon, not lunchtime peak), especially as, by the point we got there, I was very exhausted.
Both places had onsite toilets, including disabled.
Travel 3/5:
Chawton is in the countryside, meaning there isn't a local train station. However, if you are using public transport there is a bus from Petersfield station that stops directly outside of the museum (about a 40 minute bus journey, 20 minutes if you were to get a taxi). Personally, I drove - well, my mum drove, I sat in the car. It was about 35-40 minutes for us (plus a few extra when we missed the turning), which is around my limit for day trips.
Chawton is in the countryside, meaning there isn't a local train station. However, if you are using public transport there is a bus from Petersfield station that stops directly outside of the museum (about a 40 minute bus journey, 20 minutes if you were to get a taxi). Personally, I drove - well, my mum drove, I sat in the car. It was about 35-40 minutes for us (plus a few extra when we missed the turning), which is around my limit for day trips.
Overall 3.25/5:
Our visit lasted around three hours, with a travel time of thirty-five to forty minutes each way.
Our visit lasted around three hours, with a travel time of thirty-five to forty minutes each way.
"Indulge your imagination in every possible flight." - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
*I currently have moderate ME, meaning I use a wheelchair pushed by someone else, and a walking stick. Please take into account your own physical capabilities when planning a trip, if you need to start small then start small. Look into what you can see nearby for when you're ready. Although, when at my best, I may be able to post every 1-2 weeks, that does not mean I am well enough to travel that frequently! Many of my posts come from a backlog of trips taken over the past few years.
