Austen Adventure

Dates for 2025 to be announced soon.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair sitting at a restaurant table, drinking a green beverage through a striped straw.

  • Founder and Tour Guide

    From childhood, Joan has dreamt of being a tour guide, especially around literature and literary figures. She earned her masters in Literature from Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English and has spent most of the past 10 summers traveling in England and Ireland as a teacher and an administrator. Her favorite thing has been to visit the places where writers lived and wrote like London, Chawton, Stratford, Haworth, Dublin. It’s not like she’s looking for ghosts, not really.

    Joan became a humanities and literature teacher in an independent school in Howard County Maryland after spending a decade as a theater artist and educator in Baltimore City.

    She is a nerd, a hardcore, to-her-soul nerd. Let’s tour.

Detailed Itinerary

Each morning begins with breakfast in the restaurant at The Swan.

Sunday: Arrive in Alton, check in, and enjoy a Welcome Sunday roast where you will meet your traveling companions and hear about the tour.

Monday: Take a private coach to Bath and have a tour of the Jane Austen Centre, followed by a walking tour of the city that Jane called home a few times. We’ll wander the city and then enjoy an afternoon tea at the Pump House at the proper time of 4:30 p.m. (Lunch on your own)

Tuesday: Walking tour of Alton, followed by a walk along the Jane Austen Trail to visit Chawton House, the home of Jane’s brother, and the Library of Women Writers established in Jane’s honor there. In the afternoon, we will visit the home that Jane’s brother made for her, her sister, and mother - Chawton Cottage. In the afternoon, enjoy a tour of the Cottage, where Jane wrote most of her books, followed by a creative writing workshop. (Dinner on your own on our return to Alton)

Wednesday: We will travel by coach to the seaside resort town of Lyme Regis on the Jurassic Coast of Southwest England. We will visit the Lyme Regis museum and wander the town that Jane both visited and included in several of her novels. We will have lunch that includes panoramic views of the Cobb and the sea beyond. (Dinner on your own on our return to Alton)

Thursday: We will have a driving tour to visit tour two filming locations for the 2005 Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. Our first stop will be at Basildon outside Reading, which served as Mr. Bingley’s home. After a couple of hours exploring the home and the gardens, we will board our coach to travel to Dorset to visit Stourhead, famous for the scene in the garden of Mr. Darcy’s first awkward proposal. (Dinner on your own on our return to Alton)

Friday: Take a private coach to the ancient town of Winchester. Pay our respects at Winchester Cathedral, enjoy lunch in the tea house, and have time on your own to tour the town and get some shopping done. Farewell dinner in the Swan Inn.

Saturday: breakfast, goodbyes, 11 a.m. checkout

People walking under a historic stone and timber gatehouse with ivy growing on it, surrounded by old buildings and gardens.
A group of people walking on a sidewalk next to a red brick house with white-framed windows, in a neighborhood with similar houses and a blue sky.

What’s Included

  • Six nights’ accommodation in a quirky, rustic 18th century Inn

  • A small, friendly group of approximately 12 people

  • Full-time services of an experienced tour guide, living on-site

  • All group transportation by private coach

  • All entrance fees and guided tours (Jane Austen Centre, Jane Austen Cottage, Winchester Cathedral, Lyme Regis Museum, Chawton House)

  • Educational program at Jane Austen Cottage, in which participants will take a creative writing workshop with museum staff.

  • Breakfast daily

  • Opening and Closing dinner

  • Afternoon Tea at the Pump House in Bath

  • Lunch in Chawton, Lyme Regis, and Winchester

  • Not included: flight, transportation to/from Alton

Traveling to Alton, UK

Alton is on the South Western Railway, southwest of London, making it straightforward to get to from airports, such as Heathrow. When you register, we will send you detailed instructions on how to get to Alton from wherever you are traveling.

Physical Requirements

There will be walking every day of the tour, not generally more than 1 mile at a time over a period of 30-40 minutes. English towns are often paved with cobblestones which can create uneven services.

Please let us know if you will need support and we will do our best to help.