Toady I want to bring you my guide to visiting Winchester and Chawton in England. If you love history and Jane Austen in equal measure, this part of Hampshire is for you.
Visiting Winchester and Chawton
Today I traveled out to Winchester, an English city I couldn’t help but associate with the Winchester Mystery House, a whimsical heritage home in San Jose, California.
Upon arriving, it didn’t take Winchester long to expunge my wrongful associations and give me new impressions of England’s once-premier city.
Visiting Winchester
I spent the first part of my day taking in the historic sites in Winchester, of which there are many.
I visited the Great Hall of Winchester Castle, where I saw the “original” Round Table of King Arthur fame (I put original in quotes because although the table is the one and only, it was constructed a few hundred years after the legendary king was supposed to have gathered his knights around it).
From the Great Hall I made my way through town to Winchester Cathedral, of “longest nave in Europe” fame.
Strikingly similar in style and construction to the cathedral in St. Albans, the 900-year-old Winchester Cathedral somewhat ironically distinguished itself with a very modern sculpture in the flooded crypt. It also featured the burial site of Jane Austen.
I left the cathedral and continued visiting Winchester with a walk along the grounds, through Kings’ Gate, and along College Street. It was there I saw the house where Jane Austen spent the last weeks of her life.
I continued down the street and found myself walking along a beautiful path by the River Itchen, where signs of spring abounded.
Daffodils were clustered beneath willow trees with tiny budding leaves on their branches, and despite the gale-force winds, I was able to enjoy a few moments of peace on a park bench before I wandered over to the high street.
One of my goals for the day was to walk a bit of the South Downs Way, a 100-mile trail from Winchester Cathedral in the west to Eastbourne in…you got it, the east.
Not knowing where it started, I ducked into a bookstore, memorized a map, then set out to walk a whopping 2% of the trail.
During my journey I encountered several horses, some sheep, and a small village with thatched-roof cottages and lots of friendly spring flowers.
Of course, as soon as I arrived it started raining. I walked the two miles back to Winchester shielding my face from intermittent raindrops and the occasional hailstone. Still, it was nice to have had a bit of a country walk.
Visiting Chawton
When I got back to Winchester I still had some time to spare before my train back to London, so I hopped on a bus to Chawton to see another of Jane Austen’s houses.
30 minutes later I was exploring the home where Austen wrote Mansfield Park and Emma.
Jane Austen’s House in Chawton was a bit sparse in terms of the number of Austen’s actual belongings it held, but her writing table was on display along with a few articles of clothing.
My silent walk through the house was juxtaposed by two college-age women who walked into every room squealing “Oh my God! This is where she slept [or ate, had tea, etc]!” I was excited too, but my enthusiasm had nothing on theirs.
Winchester and Chawton
After visiting Chawton, I took the bus back to Winchester and headed for the train station. I arrived back in England’s presently-premier city in time to eat dinner and start packing for my six-day trip to Portugal tomorrow.
But even with the excitement of a trip to Europe on the horizon, I couldn’t help but be grateful that visiting Winchester and Chawton had been both convenient and enjoyable.
I hope you feel the same way if you get a chance to travel to Hampshire yourself.
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