Pricey & Pristine: Jane Austen’s Childhood Home is for Sale + The Final Season of Sanditon
Steventon House was the birthplace of iconic author Jane Austen, where she wrote some of her most significant works.
If you happen to find yourself with an extra $10,000,000 this Spring, you should pop over to Basingstoke, Hampsire in England and purchase this breathtaking home that also happens to be the birthplace of Jane Austen.
“In addition to composing three of her six major novels at the property, known as Steventon House, the late author was also born on the grounds — and called this her home for 25 years.”
From the listing, “Steventon House is an elegant Grade II listed Georgian house built in 1810 by Jane Austens brother, with white stucco elevations, relieved by elegant sash windows under a slate roof. The house is set in a prominent and elevated position with beautiful views across the gardens and parkland beyond. The approach to the house is via an attractive tree-lined drive, flanked by an impressive variety of mature trees, which passes by the cottage and leads to a gravel parking area in front of the house.”
A girl can dream!
Plus for all the Jane Austen fans, the third and final season of Sanditon is streaming now on PBS. This was the last book she ever wrote and never finished, as it was written only months before her death in 1871 at the age of 41.
“Set in early 1800s England in the Regency era, “Sanditon” follows Charlotte Heywood, a young woman who joins entrepreneur Tom Parker and his family at Sanditon — a seaside resort he’s developing. There, she encounters an ensemble of characters including the dowager Lady Denham, a pair of scheming siblings out for her fortune and Tom’s brothers: the goofy Arthur and the dashing-yet-churlish Sidney.”
SANDITON
Jane Austen lived on the property from 1775 until 1800 where her father was Rector for more than forty years, although nothing now remains of the rectory in which the family lived. While there Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey during what has been described as the most tranquil period of her life, which ended when her father retired to Bath in 1801.
Jane Austen was born in 1775 and grew up in the small Hampshire village of Steventon, where her father was a Church of England clergyman.
“The 13th Century parish church of St. Nicholas’ stands within a mile of the house and remains essentially unaltered by Victorian restoration and is still much the same as Jane Austen knew it.” I think that is so neat. In 1826, her brother, Edward, tore down the original abode and replaced it with what’s now known as the Steventon House. He would later sell the residence to the second Duke of Wellington in 1855. The house “sits on over 50 sprawling acres, surrounded by lush gardens and parkland. The six-bedroom, four-bathroom spread has been extensively renovated over the years but still retains many period details. The exterior features white stucco, sash windows, and a slate roof. Internally, you’ll find expansive reception rooms adorned with decorative stone fireplaces, soaring high ceilings, and ornate moldings. Although, for all that old-world charm, you also get modern comforts including a heated swimming pool a tennis court, a greenhouse, and a temperature-controlled wine cellar.”
In case you are wondering where Hampshire is as it relates to London, you can see the green section in the lower middle of the map. London is slightly northeast from there.
A driveway befitting Mr. Darcy himself.
This would be my favorite room.
A dreamy spot to Zoom and WFH.
How I imagine every house in the English countryside to look.A wine cellar, obviously.
Jane Austin statue, looking back to her home, placed in the churchyard in 2018.
The third and final season of Sanditon is streaming now on PBS: “Jane Austen’s final and incomplete novel, written only months before her death in 1817, Sanditon tells the story of the joyously impulsive, spirited and unconventional Charlotte Heywood and her romantic journey.”
