Day eleven: Getting lost on the freeway (with out being in a car) for Jane Austen!

September 25th
We set out early this morning to make our way to Jane Austen’s House! Next to going to Guernsey, this day was the one I was most excited about! Jane Austen lived in a few houses during her life time. I have visited the one she lived in while she lived in Bath a few years ago. She didn’t like it there and did not produce much writing. The theory is she was depressed over her surroundings at that time and could not write. However, the place she spent the last decade of her life was deep in the English country in a small town called Chawton. She reportedly loved it there. The closest train station to Chawton is Alton. From Alton my thinking was to snag a taxi from the station, but today is Sunday and their was only one taxi running and he was out. So, we decided to walk the 2.5 miles through Alton and into Chawton. We did ask for directions! Honest! The guy said to keep walking straight through town and "don’t deviate from the road and you will find it!" So we started walking, and walking and walking. Alton is a pretty charming town so it was not a bad walk. After about 2 miles we came to a round-about. A brown sign indicated that the Jane Austen House was to the left, so, yes we deviated and went left. It was not long before we found ourselves on the freeway and hugging the bank of the road! Yet, we were determined to make it to Jane Austen’s House! We walked and walked for probably another mile before we saw the brown sign pointing to the left again. That was the scary part, we had to run across the freeway! The whole time I was thinking, "this can not be right!" But we kept walking. The sign pointed right and we kept walking some more. . . finally, we found the house! I was determined we were not going to go through that again even if we had to hitch a ride back! I asked one of the little ladies working at the Jane Austen House about an easier way to get back to town. She apologize profusely for our perilous journey! Apparently we were suppose to go straight through the round-about and there was a underpass for us to walk through and straight into Chawton, but there are no signs directing the way. She assured us she has complained to the mayor about that on several occasions. Anyway, we took that route back to Alton and it was much shorter and we were happy to find ourselves on sidewalks the entire way!

So, the Jane Austen house. . . it was so awesome!!! I always feel like I am on a religious pilgrimage when I go to the sites of my favorite authors. I feel like I should be lighting a candle and saying a prayer or something once I get there! Instead I wondered around in awe thinking "Jane Austen was here!" I stood alone in her bedroom and closed my eyes trying to feel her spirit. . . it didn’t work. . . but it was a nice quiet moment anyway! I even put my hand on her writing desk (when no one was looking). We wondered through the gardens and ate our lunch on one of the benches. I also spent over $100 dollars in the gift shop. I could not help myself!

We had a little shock when we first walked into the house! We had been warned that a bat had gotten in over night and they had not been able to get it out. We stepped into the drawing room and it started flapping around the room! We squealed like school girls and ran back outside! The workers in the house tried to coax us back in by saying, "its ok, he won’t hurt you!" But I wanted to yell back, "How do you know!" Eventually the bat calmed down and perched on a beam. We quietly walked around the room trying not to set him off again. The worker said they had named him Mr. Bingley. (Got to love that!)

Before heading back to town we stopped for tea and scones. We are trying to get a few hundred pounds worth of scones and clotted cream into our systems before we go home. It’s a lofty goal, but we are managing some how. We are also enjoying the tradition of stopping to have a little tea break in the middle of the day. We have decided that we need to continue it once we get home! Today we had licorice peppermint tea. It was divine!
Tomorrow we are off to York!