Explore Jane Austen’s Bath with Lucy Worsley

Itinerary

1. Day

   1

   Chawton House and Bath

   Bath, United Kingdom

   Today you'll meet your tour group in London and travel to Jane Austen's House in Chawton, Hampshire, where she wrote Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Today, Jane Austen's House is a Grade I listed building and one of the most important literary sites in the world.

   You'll then continue to nearby Chawton House, the 'Great House' referred to in Jane's letters, which was owned by her brother Edward. Here you can see the reading alcove in the Oak Room where Jane liked to sit and the Knight family dining table at which Jane dined with her brothers and sisters.

   You'll then continue to your hotel in Bath, where you'll be joined by Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and a well-known writer and broadcaster, who'll give a talk on the life and times of Jane Austen and host a Q&A session.

2. Day

   2

   Bath

   Bath, United Kingdom

   After breakfast at the hotel, you'll visit the Jane Austen Centre, set in a classically decorated Georgian townhouse, where guides in period costume will provide acccounts of the author's association with Bath. You'll then enjoy a guided walking tour of 'Jane Austen's Bath' with Lucy Worsley, featuring some of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the country. Bath has many links with Jane Austen, who lived here for some years before moving to Chawton.

   In the afternoon, there's a scenic hour's cruise up the River Avon to the village of Bathampton. The trip passes under the historic Pulteney Bridge and out into the beautiful Avon valley. There is an abundance of wildlife to see on the river including swans, herons, kingfishers and otters.

3. Day

   3

   Explore Bath

   Bath, United Kingdom

   You'll have today free to explore the city of Bath at your own pace. Perhaps you'll visit No.1 Royal Crescent, a house, turned museum that is decorated and furnished just as it might have been back in 1776.

   You may also want to visit to the city's famous Roman Baths. Around 2000 years ago, the occupying Romans built public baths around the hot mineral springs which were first used by the Celts centuries earlier.

   The baths were re-housed in the buildings you'll see today in the 18th century and it was in this era that 'taking the waters' at Bath became an essential part of the upper classes' social calendar.

4. Day

   4

   Lacock

   Bath, United Kingdom

   After breakfast you'll check out of your hotel and depart for the village of Lacock in Wiltshire, which has been used as the location for countless TV and film productions, from Cranford to Wolf Hall and Harry Potter. It featured prominently in the BBC's acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.

   You'll then visit the grand 18th century Palladian mansion of Basildon Park, near Reading, used as the location for Mr Bingley's house Netherfield in the 2005 film production of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen.

   The interior boasts a richly decorated Neo-classical hall, a spectacular staircase hall with cantilevered stairs and arched first floor gallery, an octagonal drawing room with heavy Italianate ceilings and an upstairs shell room created by Lady Iliffe.

   After your visit you'll return to your original departure point in central London as your tour comes to an end.