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Monday, October 4

A Virtual Visit to Chawton Cottage

Jane Austen spent her most productive years writing in Chawton Cottage, the house her brother Edward supplied to his two sisters and mother. This video is more about Jane's life in the cottage than of the legend of her benevolent ghost. The narrator mentions two jarring facts: that she was content to live a simple life (popular perception is that she was always worried about money) and that she died of cancer. Other than that, this video provides an excellent view of the gardens that surround the house and of its rooms.



The next video shows a different perspective of the cottage, with few duplications of the first video. One is more aware than ever of how small the rooms are in this house.



The third, very short video is of her bedroom. You can hear the creaking of the floor boards. Jane and Cassandra slept in separate but identical twin beds.



And the fourth video is of her bed with the quilt she made covering it. Click here to view it.

Copy of a quilt Jane was working on in a side bedroom in Chawton Cottage.
For a photographic visit of Chawton Cottage, click on this post by Tony Grant on London Calling.

View from Jane's window by Keith Mallet

Keith Mallet wrote a beautiful post about the view from Jane's window.

4 comments:

TONY said...

This very good,Vic.

Thanks for linking my article to it.

All the best,
Tony

Jessica said...

I die over that quilt everytime I see it. Lovely! Someday I'll make one like it :)

And the picture from her window is great! Thanks for sharing!

Debbi Thinks Deep said...

Oh, my! Thank you! I cannot tell you what this post means to me! When I visited Chawton, it was with my husband and son. We were visiting our son . . . had traveled to accompany him home from a semester abroad at Oxford . . . I tried not to overtax their patience when we visited, and hindsight being what it is, I wish we had done more in Chawton, taken more pictures, walked more about the village . . . I may never have the opportunity to revisit . . . Really, this entire post just warms my heart. Thank you, so very much!
~Debbi

Maria L. said...

Thanks for letting me indulge in a little quiet daydreaming this morning with the lovely images of Chawton.