Car-free Jane Austen adventuresAcross the UK
Many of the places where Jane Austen lived and worked are now accessible by public transport. Take a trip to Pemberley, follow in her footsteps in Bath, and look at her famous portrait in London. Plan your car-free Jane Austen adventures with us.
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See Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, Hampshire
Jane Austen’s House is a red-brick home at Chawton where the author wrote all six of her novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. She moved there in 1809 with her mother, sister Cassandra and their friend, Martha Lloyd.
Today the house is a museum where you can marvel at the tiny writing desk where Jane Austen worked. You can also step into the author’s world thanks to the displays of furniture, portraits, paintings and homeware the family used.
There are trains to nearby Alton from London Waterloo. There are buses from Winchester and Petersfield. Follow these public transport directions on the museum’s website and use our journey planner.
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Follow in Jane Austen’s footsteps
Hampshire
Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, in 1775 and lived in the county for the first 25 years of her life. Today you can follow trails by foot or by bike around Steventon, nearby Overton and the surrounding countryside. These take you along the paths that Jane, her family and friends would have walked. Find out more about the Jane Austen Trails.
Kent
Visit Tonbridge in Kent, where Jane’s father taught and her grandparents are buried. Follow an easy wheelchair- and buggy-accessible path past many buildings and places linked to the Austen family.
Bath
Jane Austen moved to Bath in 1801 and stayed until 1806. She mentions the city in all six of her novels. Bath is now home to the Jane Austen Centre, which features costumed guides, activities and exhibitions about her life and the city’s influence on her work.
Whilst in the city, you might also enjoy dipping into another bit of Regency-set fiction with a Bridgerton walking tour. Arrive by train for 20% off.
Bath is well connected by rail, with trains from London and Exeter taking around an hour and a quarter. Bristol is just 10 minutes by train. Plan your journey to Bath.
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Fall in love with Mr Darcy’s house, Pemberley, at Chatsworth and Lyme
Chatsworth, Derbyshire
Jane Austen may have based Mr Darcy’s beautiful house, Pemberley, on Derbyshire’s Chatsworth House. It’s certainly how many people think of the grand house that captures Elizabeth Bennet’s heart even before its occupier truly does. That’s because it was used in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The film starred Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.
Chatsworth is celebrating Jane Austen with talks and activities plus an outdoor film screening of Pride and Prejudice in June.
Visitors arriving at Chatsworth House by bus, train or bicycle can borrow a multi-media guide for free. You can wander through the 105-acre garden, and stroll through 1800 acres of parkland and historic woodland. Families will also enjoy the farmyard and adventure playground.
Follow Good Journey’s directions to Chatsworth.
Lyme, Cheshire
In the much-loved 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, National Trust Lyme in Cheshire was used for the exterior shots of Pemberley. Look out for iconic settings from the series, including Darcy’s pond and the Italian garden where Elizabeth Bennet walked.
You can enjoy free entry into the park and garden at Lyme as well as a 10% discount in the cafés when you go by bus, train or bike.
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Austen and Turner at Harewood House, Leeds
Harewood House, just north of Leeds, is an 18th-century Palladian country house. It was built by Edwin Lascelles, who had connections to transatlantic slavery. Austen knew of the Lascelles family at Harewood, and named a character after them in Mansfield Park, which explores empire and slavery.
To mark 250 years since Austen’s birth, Harewood House displayed a new portrait by contemporary visual artist Lela Harris. The painting showed Miss Lambe, the only character of African heritage in Austen’s novels (pictured on this page). Miss Lambe featured in the unfinished manuscript ‘Sanditon’.
Plan your journey to Harewood House and get 50% off when you go by bus.
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Visit Jane Austen’s resting place at Winchester Cathedral
Jane Austen fell ill in 1816, and moved to number 8 College Street, Winchester for medical treatment in May 1817. She died there in July, aged just 41. She was buried six days later in Winchester Cathedral.
The house on College Street is not open to the public but it has a plaque on the outside so it’s easy to spot.
You can see more Georgian buildings and discover the people and places that marked Austen’s final weeks by following Jane Austen’s Winchester Trail.
Alongside services and sermons, 1,000-year-old Winchester Cathedral hosts art installations, silent discos, concerts, tours and family trails. You can visit Jane Austen’s grave inside and see a contemporary sculpture of the writer by sculptor Martin Jennings outside.
There are direct trains to Winchester train station from London Waterloo, Clapham Junction, Basingstoke, Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Eastleigh, Fareham, Reading and Oxford. If you travel by train, a Winchester PlusBus ticket gives you unlimited bus travel in the local area.
See full car-free travel directions to Winchester Cathedral.
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See Cassandra Austen’s portrait of her sister
London’s National Portrait Gallery holds what it describes as “the only reasonably certain portrait from life to show Austen’s face”. The pencil and watercolour sketch by Cassandra Austen shows her sister Jane, arms folded, looking to one side. Jane has big brown eyes, with dark curls framing her face.
The National Portrait Gallery houses the largest collection of portraits in the world and is free to visit.
The nearest train station is Charing Cross, 320 metres away. Plan your journey.
Image credits: Chatsworth House courtesy of Chatsworth. Jane Austen’s House by grassrootsgroundswell and John W. Schulze, Flickr. Pulteney Bridge by Phoebe Taplin. Portrait of Miss Lambe, 2025, by Lela Harris © Lela Harris. Sign by Gordie Jackson, Royal Crescent by Rose Jane and books by Dominika Walcza, all Unsplash.
