It is a truth universally acknowledged… that a person longing for exquisite escape must be satisfied by a home worthy of Jane Austen’s literary imagination. This year marks 250 years since the birth of the undisputed doyenne of Regency romance, and what better way to honour her legacy than by penning letters in a quiet parlour, promenading through pleasure gardens, staging an impromptu dance or admiring “the beauties to be seen” from every sash-framed window of a private Georgian retreat? Picture palladian façades with neoclassical porticos, panelled libraries made for clandestine glances and sprawling lawns befitting the most fanciful of flirtations. Here, we round up five homes across the UK to inspire your Austenian stay.
Artemis, Hampshire
A short carriage ride from Jane Austen’s birthplace of Steventon, you’d be forgiven for mistaking Artemis for Longbourn – where the Bennet sisters amble arm in arm in Pride and Prejudice. Like the novel, Artemis itself delights in contrasts: its Georgian symmetry stands poised amid swaying seas of wildflowers, while the interiors blend mist-toned palettes with curio-filled eclecticism. Sleeping up to 11 guests across seven bedrooms, Artemis is well-suited to larger parties and multi-generational gatherings to rival any grand estate assembly.
The Summer Folly, Lincolnshire
Surrender to whimsy at The Summer Folly, the enchanted final creation of architect Sir John Vanbrugh and former summer house of the Grimsthorpe Castle estate. Within its rose-clad walls, intricate hand-painted murals tell stories as lively as a season spent with Austen’s elite. Make like the Bennet sisters on summer rounds from Meryton to Rosings, where picnics, parties and burning sunsets zing with giddy abandon under the watch of a castle that has presided over centuries of revelry.
The Sorting Office, Hampshire
This mid-18th-century red-brick haven is a thatched doppelgänger for Austen’s own cottage at Chawton, where she penned Emma and revised much of her celebrated oeuvre. A perfect spot to steal away and fill your own pages by candlelight or bask in the glow of the inglenook fireplace, The Sorting Office offers a restful retreat from the everyday. Explore the nearby New Forest, or simply embrace the comfort of quietude.
Honeystone, Suffolk
Set within a sprawling five-acre estate where the air is perfumed by the heady scent of jasmine and rose, Honeystone is the pinnacle of high-society grandeur. Evoking the rapturous spirit of Netherfield Park, where Bingley’s soirées stirred hearts and turned heads, this 19th-century manor invites you to accept that unexpected invitation, dance beneath chandeliers, recline in palatial bathtubs, and banquet beneath the painted gaze of Greco-Roman gods.
The Palladian, Gloucestershire
With soaring ceilings, sweeping staircases and sumptuous communal spaces, this stately Georgian manor sets an intrinsically Austenian scene. Beyond the classical portico in the garden, generations can gather with ease; playing croquet, plunging into the pool or laughing around the open-plan kitchen-diner. As Fanny Price observes of Mansfield Park’s gatherings: “We all went together; and, being in such numbers, we were not quite so formal as usual.” Find your own freedom at The Palladian, whether in quiet pleasures or lively company.
For more Austen-inspired experiences, stay in Bath (where the novelist also lived) for the Jane Austen Festival this September; explore our other retreats in Austen’s home county of Hampshire; and browse our full collection of country house escapes.
