Each year, the small village of Chawton in England receives tens of thousands of visitors to the Jane Austen House, the author’s final home.
Jane Austen House, Chawton
The Jane Austen House in Chawton is significant for many reasons. It is Jane’s last permanent home with items owned by her and her family. It is where Jane wrote or revised her six novels, including Pride and Prejudice. It is the only place where Jane Austen lived that is still standing and open to the public. 
Inside the Jane Austen House
I will admit I was unsure about going inside the Jane Austen House. As one of the last stops on a personal Jane Austen Tour, the outside of the cottage was picture perfect and I feared I would be disappointed. My husband convinced me by softly saying, “You can’t come all this way and not go inside.” 
The Jane Austen House has a warmth you do not find in other house museums. There is a lightness and brightness. The scale of the house is intimate.
Is it really Jane’s? No. Is it really pretty? Yes.
Critics may scoff to see costumes donated from the 2007 film, Becoming Jane, but decorating a historic home is no easy feat. Besides, this pale green gown is gorgeous.
My favorite things are the real parts of Jane Austen’s story. The Topaz Crosses 
The topaz crosses from Charles.
To read Jane Austen is to read between the lines. When her sailor brother, Charles, spends his prize money on gifts for his sisters, Jane is delighted, but jokingly feigns indignation to her sister, Cassandra, in a May 1801 letter.
“...but of what avail is it to take prizes if he lays out the produce in presents to his sisters. He has been buying gold chains and topaz crosses for us. He must be well scolded…He will receive my letter today, and I shall write again by this post to thank and reproach him. We shall be unbearably fine.” Unfortunately, not all Jane’s relatives were as thoughtful as her brother, Charles.
The Portrait
The Reverend Edward Cooper
When I saw this portrait at the Jane Austen House, I gasped, “It’s Mr. Collins!” Actually, this is a painting of the Reverend Edward Cooper, Jane Austen’s cousin who was a clergyman.
In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins is described as a “tall, heavy looking young man…His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal.” Like Mr. Collins, Jane’s cousin Mr. Cooper was known for writing letters that Jane Austen described as “cruel comfort.” The Austen family visited Mr. Cooper in 1799, when he was a curate at Harpsden. In 1801, he invited the Austens to his new parsonage. Jane was not looking forward to the trip and wrote to her sister Cassandra, “At present, we greatly prefer the sea to all our relations.” Was Mr. Cooper the inspiration for the odious Mr. Collins?
The Desk
Jane Austen House with bricked up front window.
It’s been said that the front window in the Drawing Room was bricked up for privacy. The bricked up window also created a wall for Mr. Austen’s desk.
A bookcase, desk, and bureau all-in-one, Mr. Austen’s mahogany desk was made in the 1780s by George Hepplewhite, a contemporary of Chippendale. The top has a molded and dentil cornice. The bookcase has glazed doors. Small drawers and cubby holes above the writing surface are followed by four long, graduated drawers. 
Mr. Austen’s mahogany desk.
When the family lived in Steventon, Mr. Austen had an impressive library of books. After Mr. Austen retired in 1801, Jane and her family moved to Bath, auctioning off their possessions, including Jane’s pianoforte and 200 of Mr. Austen’s books.
Mr. Austen’s desk remained in Steventon until it was sold at auction in 1950. It was bought by the Jane Austen Society and placed in the Jane Austen House.
The Wallpaper
Just like any home, and especially one more than 500 years old, there is always upkeep on the Jane Austen House.
Original fragments of wallpaper were uncovered and dated to Jane Austen’s time through a tax stamp on the back of the wallpaper. 
Chawton Vine wallpaper in the Drawing Room.
The Jane Austen House museum staff worked with historic wallpaper specialists, Hamilton Weston in London, to reproduce the vibrant wallpaper.
The Dining Room with Chawton Leaf wallpaper.
Using a 19th century hand blocking print process, the wallpaper can be seen in the Drawing Room (Chawton Vine), Dining Room (Chawton Leaf), and Mrs. Austen’s Bedroom (Chawton Rosebud).
You can get details about the Jane Austen House wallpaper collection and request wallpaper samples from Hamilton Weston.
The Donkey Cart
Jane Austen lived in an age of horse and carriage, though she drove a donkey cart herself. She was of that time, but not of that world.
At the Jane Austen House, this item is labeled the “donkey carriage.” Sounds a bit grand for a conveyance that could not protect Jane from the elements. So, I’m calling it the “donkey cart.” This wooden donkey cart has a bench seat with storage. There are hooks on the shafts, so that the cart stopped when the donkey stopped. (You may notice no brakes on the wheels.) 
Early 19th century donkey cart restored in 1998.
The donkey cart was an easy and cheap mode of transportation for the Austen women. No horses, stables, or grooms required. A donkey’s walking pace is 4 miles per hour and the journey into Alton for shopping would take about 20 minutes.
Jane Austen’s niece, who often stayed at Chawton as a child, remembered, “I think my Grandmother seldom used it, but Aunt Jane found it a help to herself getting into Alton.”
Jane Austen House Garden
For those who want to walk in the footsteps of Jane Austen, you can’t get much closer than the earth beneath your feet.
Oak tree surrounded by seating.
The garden includes a range of plants known in Jane Austen’s time and wildflowers common to the county of Hampshire.
Blush Noisette climbing roses.
The plants at the front of the house are a mix of climbing shrubs, seasonal bulbs and summer annuals framing the house doors.
Originally the cottage had five acres of land, including meadows and pasture, gardens for fruits, vegetables, and flowers such as peonies, and beehives to make honey and mead. The Austen women would sell the surplus fruit from the orchard. 
Jane Austen House Garden in the summer sun.
Today, the garden is a pretty half-acre with a high beech hedge planted in the 1950s.
It is free to enter the garden and you can picnic on the lawns and benches.
Jane Austen House History
Jane Austen House in Chawton.
The Jane Austen House started its life as a farmhouse. It was a single-story brick cottage with a timber-frame kitchen and outbuildings kept separate from the house because of the risk of fire. Parts of the cottage date back to the 1500s.
In the mid-18th century, the house served as a pub because of its location on the main road. When the pub closed, Jane Austen’s brother Edward (the adopted heir of wealthy relatives who were childless) purchased the former pub for his steward. The steward’s house, then called Chawton Cottage, is less than a half-mile from Chawton House, one of three estates that Edward inherited from his adoptive parents. After Edward’s steward died in 1808, Chawton Cottage was redecorated for the Austen women. In shades of Sense and Sensibility, Edward’s mother and sisters moved into the cottage in 1809 to live rent-free for the rest of their lives. Edward and his wife, Elizabeth, had 11 children and spent most of their time at Godmersham Park in Kent (Lady Catherine de Bourgh country) which is 100 miles east of Chawton. 
Chawton House: Jane never lived in the “Great House.”
After inheriting three estates, I still wonder why Jane’s brother Edward had the Austen women live in Chawton Cottage, instead of Chawton House, which Jane called the “Great House.”
On July 18, 1817, Jane died at the age of 41. Jane’s brother Henry prevailed in gaining permission for his not-yet-celebrated sister to be buried in Winchester Cathedral (about 17 miles from the Jane Austen House). 
Jane Austen takes her anonymity to the grave.
The cause of Jane Austen’s death is not known. Based on her letters with complaints of bilious attacks, facial aches and fever, the speculation on cause of death includes Addison’s disease or Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Jane’s mother and sister (both named Cassandra) are buried less than a half-mile from the Jane Austen House in the graveyard at St. Nicholas Church on the grounds of Chawton House. 
Headstone for Jane’s sister Cassandra who lived to age 72.
How to Visit the Jane Austen House 
Courtyard view from Jane Austen’s bedroom.
In 2024, the Jane Austen House celebrates its 75th anniversary. Throughout 2025, the Jane Austen House is celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday (December 16, 2025).
Because of the small size of the rooms at the Jane Austen House, 12 visitors enter the cottage every 20 minutes. Once there, you can stay as long as you like until closing time. To guarantee entry, it is wise to pre-book your visit to the Jane Austen House. The Jane Austen House is not part of the National Trust.
Jane Austen House Address
Jane Austen House
Winchester Road Chawton, Hampshire GU34 1SD +44 (0)1420 83262 Visit the Jane Austen House website. Chawton is about a one-hour drive from London. There are parking areas near Cassandra’s Cup (across the road from the Jane Austen House) and Chawton House (half-mile from the Jane Austen House). Trains run every hour from London to Alton. You can take a taxi or walk the 1.8 miles from the train station to the Jane Austen House in Chawton. Snack time! Located just across the road from the Jane Austen House, Cassandra’s Cup is a village shop and tea room that offers scones, cakes, tea, coffee, light snacks, and a deli. Want to learn more about Jane Austen? See a review of the biography, Jane Austen: A Life. Jane Austen House Virtual Tour Can’t travel to the Jane Austen House? Take the 360-degree virtual tour.
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