Jane Austen day

Tonight is our choir's summer concert.  It is on a Jane Austen theme, this year being the 200th anniversary of Jane's death in Winchester on 18th July 1817.  So this morning my friend and I went out to the village of Chawton, the last place she lived and where all her important books were written and/or sent out to publishers from.  Her house is now her museum.

Also on the edge of the village is Chawton House, the great house where her brother Edward lived.  In the grounds is the small church where she must have worshipped. This is it, though much changed since her day, owing to a catastrophic fire.

We found ourselves in here before lunch, sheltering from the rain.  We also sheltered in the big house (now a centre for the study of women's literature), sheltered in the pub and lastly sheltered in the museum.

So we are thoroughly educated in Jane Austen, in time for the concert!

Because of singing tonight, I shall have to visit your journals in the morning.  Enjoy your evening and thank you for visiting  xx