Jane Austen Museum

Hello and welcome to another blog,

This blog was an adventure that I went on with my cousin and her friend and we left Kyran at home to work on his new invention and hopefully finish it up after 1.5 years of time and money have gone into it. 


Jane Austen Museum

I have never really considered myself a 'fan' of anything in life but I would say that if anything I am a fan of Jane Austen and her work. 

I mean we all have to study some novel from that era at school but I took it further, I love the dresses and social graces too. Also the longer that I am married the more I understand the importance of marrying for money! 

Like in the movie "Becoming Jane":

“Affection is desirable. Money is absolutely indispensable!” – Mrs. Austen

Hahaha well that is enough digging at my poor husband while he is working so hard here beside me. 

So the Museum, it is the house where Jane Austen lived from 1809-1817 where it is believed that she revised three existing manuscripts that she had already written and where she penned three more. 

Photos Below of the front of the Jane Austin Museum - not as romantic as I would have imagined, but Jane Austen's home nonetheless.

The table below is where they think Jane sat and wrote. 

The Museum is small but very well organised. There were clothes from that era so people could dress up and take a photo (both men and women's clothing). There was also small bits of cloth and lavender flowers and string so that you could make yourself bundles. There were also feather quill ink pens that you could try writing with.  

As you move through the Austen house it tells you about Jane's life and has on display some of the articles that she had made. Lets have a look at some of the pictures that I took and I will talk you through it. 

Above: Jane and her sister Cassandra walked every afternoon for a few hours in the surrounding country side but when they had to go to town to do the shopping they would have used the carriage. It is important to remember that in this time only the rich owned carriages so, big carriages = very rich and independent. Their's was only a little one!

This is what the bake house was like. There was the kitchen that was attached to the house and then there was the bake house. The difference was that the bake house was where the baking happened but also the washing of clothes and the salting of the pigs was done. 

Wood was burnt in the the fire and then the put into the back of the oven. The flames then heated the roof of the oven, once hot enough the ashes were raked out and bread and or pies were inserted and the door closed.
The copper to the left was used for washing clothes and boiling water for scalding a slaughtered pig before scraping the skin. 

In contrast see below for photos of the kitchen

As you enter the house to the right of the kitchen, you enter the drawing room. A room with an old fashioned writing desk and a piano (Clementi piano) similar to the one that Jane Austen would have played 

The writing desk is the desk that belonged to Jane's father George Austen.  

Above: A  bead similar to the one that Jane and her sister Cassandra would have shared 

Left: The Cabin bed of Admiral Sir Francis Austen GCB. It was easily dismantled to be taken on board a ship.

 As far as life in the 18th century went girls would have been taught how to sew from a young age. Jane was reputed to be very good at stitching. 
Above: an embroidered handkerchief that Jane made for her sister Cassandra hence the initials CA.

Below: Is a muslin shawl which Jane embroidered with satin stitch crosses. It is two pieces of of muslin joined into one large shawl by a lace insertion.

Keeping in theme with handiwork that Jane was a part of, below is a quilt that was made by Jane, Cassandra and their mother also named Cassandra. 

It is important here to remember that there were no sewing machines at that time and each and every one of these diamond shapes was sewed on by hand and there are over 3000 diamonds.  There was no mention of how long it took to make this quilt but I can only imaging the three women sitting there day after day, week after week. 

There was a letter from Jane to Cassandra (her sister) asking if she remembered to collect pieces for the patchwork quilt as they had come to a stand still.  There are suppose to be over 64 different types of fabrics used in the making of the quilt. Apparently the fabric consisted of both furnishing and dress cottons. 

From one quilter (me!) commenting on another: *mind blown*

One final comment on the Jane Austen museum; There were beautiful little flower bouquets on almost every window sill. This for me was a nice touch as I could imagine that this is how the house would have been with the girls going out walking every day and picking and bringing flowers home to make arrangements like these.

Jane Austen died at the age of 41, unmarried and with no children.  If it were not for her books she would have die penniless instead she was worth a full £808!

This is a summary of Jane's 'fortune' at the time of her death

200 years later and Jane Austen's book have been translated into 35 languages and have been the source of inspiration for many movies.

Jane Austen is now featured on the new English 10 pound note.

Austen is the only woman – apart from the Queen – to now feature on an English bank note, following the withdrawal of the old £5 notes in May, which featured Elizabeth Fry. Fry was replaced with a picture of Winston Churchill. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/new-10-note-featuring-jane-austen-enters-circulation-today-everything/)

Above image taken from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/new-10-note-featuring-jane-austen-enters-circulation-today-everything/  
Below: The garden outside Jane Austen house Museum

To finish off our day of Jane Austen we headed to Basingstoke in Hampshire to see the life-sized bronze sculpture of Jane Austen which can be found in the Basingstoke's Market Place. 

The statue is reportedly worth £100,000.

"Austen knew Basingstoke well and attended social gatherings at the Assembly Rooms in Market Square and regularly visited family friends at The Vyne, Oakley Hall and Ashe House".(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-40642894)

I would like to finish off this blog with some of my favourite Jane Austen Quotes:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?”― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

For more information on Jane Austen see:

www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk

http://www.janeaustensoci.freeuk.com/ 

END OF JANE AUSTEN

If you do like reading our blog you should consider subscribing/following us, that way you know each time a new blogs gets posted.

If you want to contribute to keep the blog full of adventures I have set up a Paypal account that you can donate to. 

paypal.me/findlatertravels

Also if there is anything that is around where we are and you want us to see it/review it please do let us know! we would love to hear from you. Send us an email at:

findlatertravels at hotmail.com