Chawton, Winchester. White Cliffs & a Bit of History Too

I really couldn't live in England for a year and a half without going to Jane Austen's home could I? No, I could not. My parents left all the travel planning to me while they are here, so they got to come as well.

It's a comfortable sized home one can imagine Jane, her mother and her sister being happy in, located in the southern part of England.

This is the very table that Miss Austen used for her writing. She'd spend the morning writing, while her sister took care of the household. 

In one of the rooms visitors wrote notes about their experience visiting Chawton. I liked this one: "Dear Jane, Thank you for Mr. Darcy! With love ..."

Don't Mom and Camille look fetching in their straw bonnets? 

The gardens of the home were quite pretty. 

My Dad enjoying some moments of sunshine out in the back garden, with a view of the house.

Jane Austen and her sister were said to spend two or three hours every afternoon out walking in the local countryside. I would have enjoyed following in their footsteps, as it looked like a pretty walk; but it was closed due to a restoration project.

That evening we stopped by Winchester Cathedral on our way to dinner. Unfortunately, by the time we had driven south through traffic, had lunch, toured Jane Austen's home, got settled into our hotel and then made it to the cathedral, it was closed. The outside is so pretty that we would have liked to have seen the inside too. It was the original burial place of Alfred the Great and is also the burial place of Jane Austen. It has three memorials to her inside.

Our next day we took Mom and Dad to see the Seven Sisters, white cliffs that are easier to view from the land than the white cliffs of Dover. We had been last summer and had put it on our list of places to see again.

It was a very brisk and breezy day, but it's a beautiful place in any weather. That's me trying to be positive, as truth be told, I'm a little unimpressed with the weather this summer. How can August be so cold?

Mom, Dad and Anya barely had time to explore the beach before the tide was reaching high tide. They had to make a quick dash to the stairs to make it up before the beach disappeared. Mike, Camille and I were too slow making it down to get to the beach at all. 

Last stop on our super-quick tour of the south was the Battle of Hastings site and abbey. 

Really, all there is to see of the battle is the field and hills where it took place. The audio guide was excellent though, so we all felt it was worth visiting. 

Too quickly, our two days in the south were gone. We fit in as much as we could.