Barton's Mill pub
We had lunch at a very nice pub called Barton's Mill in Old Basing, Hampshire. It's on a small river and used to be a water-powered mill (and used to be called The Millstone). The mill raceway is still there, with water flowing through but without the two water wheels that were once there. A very pleasant place, and a very good meal. Beer perhaps a bit cloudy. (I'm such an expert now :-)
A very nice garden on the river, with picnic tables and ducks swimming in the mill pond. The viaduct in the distance (the arches over the stream) carries the modern railway.
Jane Austen's house
We went on to Chawton and the house that Jane Austen lived in for the last eight years of her life. She had written drafts of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey before moving to the house, but none had yet been published. In the house, she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion.
Be a Janeite! Visitors can dress as early 19th century women did. Janeites are people (women and men) who practice "self-consciously idolatrous enthusiasm for 'Jane' and every detail relative to her." See the Wikipedia article on Janeites. The paper plates appear to have been decorated by children visiting the museum.
These little chicks were scattered around the house, each with a character name. I expect that there was a "hunt" in which younger children tried to find all the chicks.
A view into the house's garden.
An 1810 square piano, much like the one that Jane Austen owned and played.
This isn't "much like" her writing table, it is her writing table. It's astonishingly small.
Early 19th century dresses; the second one is a wedding dress. Not white, you say? According to the museum, in those years a wedding dress wasn't a special single-purpose dress like it is today. It was part of a trousseau, and the important thing was that the bride had a proper trousseau and thus the clothes needed to begin married life. Brown was a very popular color for dresses then.
In any case, Jane Austen never married, so this isn't her wedding dress.
I spotted this volume among hundreds of reference works in the museum's library.
A late 19th century edition of Pride and Prejudice. The later editions carried her name as the author, but the first ones didn't. The first edition of Pride and Prejudice said it was "By the author of Northanger Abbey", which in turn said only that it was "By a Lady." Then, everyone "knew" that women couldn't possibly write novels.
Austen's novels have been translated into a huge number of languages. Here, Pride and Prejudice in Azerbaijani.
Other garden views.
A bed similar to Jane Austen's, and a bed with a patchwork quilt. The quilt was made by Jane, her mother, and her sister.
The house and garden, as we left.
A very interesting historical house, well worth a visit. An excellent day out.
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