We took the bus a few hours south to Chawton house, the home owned by Jane Austen's brother. This is the house that Jane's brother, Edward, inherited after being adopted by a distant relation in the Knight family. He moved there and Jane spent a lot of time in this house. While they don't think she actually penned any of her novels in this house, they do think it inspired a great deal of her writing. In the upstairs, at the end of the house, there is a chair in the window that was supposedly her favorite place to sit. She enjoyed watching the coming and going of the house. I'd like to think she was a very nosey woman, always watching and observing others and then turning it into writing. I got to sit in the chair in her favorite spot and pretend I was Jane for a few moments. Its so cool getting to walk in the very same rooms on the same floor boards that these people also walked on. It makes them feel so much more real. In the house there is also a library that was established by an American woman as a place to teach young women about female authors. The library holds over 2000 books all by female authors. They said there was a first edition of Emma in transit to that library as we speak. In that room there were also a dozen fashion illustrations all done with the fabrics from a quilt that Jane and her sister Cassandra made. The quilt is on display at the Jane Austen house in town.
After a walk around the house I walked back into the village to tour the Austen home where Jane and sister would have lived with their father and mother. We got to see the kitchen where their food was prepared, the dining and sitting rooms, as well as Jane's bedroom and the gardens. While it was just a house, and the furniture is most likely all new, it is still cool to walk the halls of the home that was once hers.
After leaving Chawton we had a very long bus ride back to West London where we are finishing our trip. Once we were all checking it I sat and worked on my sketchbook for a while (because I'm VERY behind) and then decided to get dinner at the hotel restaurant with Zoë and Riley. It was an expensive and and odd menu for a hotel. The options for dinner were as follows;
Thai avocado curry- 17.95
Grilled seabass- 18.50
Lobster linguini- 27.50
Wild mushroom and truffle risotto- 17.50
Duo of lamb- 28.50
Traditionally spiced chicken curry- 18.95
There were no other options and all we wanted was a burger and fries after the tasteless food we've been having for most of the trip. At this point we were already seated and had our water poured so we were in too deep to back out now. I got the Avocado curry, it was good. Very spicy tho. There was also so much food that I could only eat half. The waitress asked me if I didn't like it and I had to explain to her that I was full. Never once have I done that before!
Tomorrow we are headed to Hampton Court for our final day and then we go home!
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