Chawton House

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Chawton House Known to Jane Austen as 'the Great House'. Beautiful estate with tearoom, gardens & Austen heirlooms.

Chawton House Library is a charity with a unique collection of books focusing on women's writing in English from 1600 to 1830. This specialist collection, set in the home and working estate of Jane Austen's brother, provides the opportunity to study and savour the texts in their original setting and inspires passion in readers of all ages.

The rare opportunity to acquire this original artwork and more by Juliet McMaster for Jane Austen’s The Beautifull Cassa...
26/10/2026

The rare opportunity to acquire this original artwork and more by Juliet McMaster for Jane Austen’s The Beautifull Cassandra ends with an auction on Saturday 31st October!

First created for Prof. McMaster’s 1993 edition of Austen’s youthful story The Beautifull Cassandra, these drawings bring Austen’s comic tale to life through a charming cast of animal characters. This is a unique opportunity for Austen collectors, lovers of illustrated books, and admirers of Prof. McMaster and Chawton House to acquire the complete set of artwork created for this publication.

The twenty-one original illustrations and one reproduction by Juliet McMaster, are offered together as a single lot which will benefit Chawton House! For more information, head to https://www.nafch.org/bcass-art

Calling all little witches, wizards, ghosts and ghouls! 🧙‍♀️ If you're looking for half-term fun, this Tuesday come and ...
25/10/2026

Calling all little witches, wizards, ghosts and ghouls! 🧙‍♀️ If you're looking for half-term fun, this Tuesday come and spend a few hours with the creepy creatures at Chawton House in our Halloween Kids Craft Day.

Explore the House on our spooky Poison Puzzle detective trail, venture into the gardens to complete the Witch's Garden trail, make your very own broomstick, or join us in the Old Kitchen for magical potion-making workshops at 11am and 2pm. Create your own mysterious concoction to take home!

Fancy dress is thoroughly encouraged, and for one day only, the kids can be as noisy as they like!

🕸️ Tuesday 27 October | 10.30am–4pm. ***Pre-booking essential***
Visit our What's On page to book your place.
Tickets: £5 children | £10 accompanying adults
Potion-making workshops: £3 extra

EVENT CANCELLATION: Three Ghostly Tales with Dominic GerrardWe are very sorry to announce that we have had to cancel tom...
25/10/2026

EVENT CANCELLATION: Three Ghostly Tales with Dominic Gerrard

We are very sorry to announce that we have had to cancel tomorrow's performance of Three Ghostly Tales with Dominic Gerrard.

All ticket holders will receive a full refund, and we are contacting everyone who has booked directly.

We hope to reschedule the performance for a later date and will share further details when we can.

Our apologies for any disappointment, and thank you for your understanding.

This week in the Gardens we’re taking a look at the changing colours of Autumn, and how the onset of a new season affect...
23/10/2026

This week in the Gardens we’re taking a look at the changing colours of Autumn, and how the onset of a new season affects what we do across the estate! 🍂🍁

The orange hues stand out so beautifully in the Autumn sun against our green lawn 😍

We can expect Storm Austen will be causing lots of leaf fall, with its strong gusts of wind!

Towards the end of November the Garden volunteers will be making an effort to clear away the leaf fall from Autumn before Winter sets in. ❄️

The team have been cutting back our Jane Austen border in the Walled Garden. This is part of maintenance of the border and is done twice a year!

They have weeded but ensured that flowers’ self seeding remains, letting beautiful flowers grow again🌹

The Garden volunteer team got to work making hurdles for our volunteer Christmas Committee who are hard at work producing our Christmas display, opening in November! 🤶🎄

(Wait and see how these will be used in our display!)

The hurdles were made out of coppiced hazel which we touched on recently! This process doesn’t cost us anything and is sustainable as it will be used in the Gardens after Christmas.

It also meant our volunteers learnt a new heritage craft skill!

The team made sure to collect lots of twigs and branches ready for a Broomstick Making workshop, taking place on Tuesday as part of our Halloween Half Term Kids Craft Day!

You can still book a place and let the kids explore Chawton House without fear of being too noisy. Just head to the link in our bio!

Come back next week to see what we’ve been up to in the Gardens!

23/10/2026

You can hear more of Dominic Gerrard’s reading of The Monkey’s Paw and other ghostly tales on Monday 26th October!

Head to the link in our bio to discover all that’s on next week 🎃🧙‍♀️⚰️

Unfortunately, due to forecasted high winds, we will be closing our Gardens and Tea Shed tomorrow, Friday 23rd October.T...
22/10/2026

Unfortunately, due to forecasted high winds, we will be closing our Gardens and Tea Shed tomorrow, Friday 23rd October.

The House & Tearoom will remain open. We are due to reopen the Gardens on 24th October. Please check our website for updated information.

*Yes we are aware it should be its.

Get Ready With Us! Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing some of our favourite objects from our current exhibition, Dressing ...
21/10/2026

Get Ready With Us! Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing some of our favourite objects from our current exhibition, Dressing Up, to give a flavour of what getting ready looked like 250 years ago.

With Halloween just around the corner, you might be thinking about what to wear to the party. The dilemma was familiar to 18th-century partygoers who planned on heading out to one of the most popular, and spectacular, entertainments on offer: the masquerade. These masked balls offered guests to opportunity to become someone else for the night, and the choices were endless: princesses rubbed shoulders with chimney sweeps, nuns and devils shared the floor, whilst shepherdesses dined with emperors. One man even caused a great deal of offence in a skin-coloured suit, posing as Biblical Adam - it has always been possible to go too far... A particular favourite was the domino costume, a voluminous cloak with a hood worn with a mask, imported from Venetian masquerade traditions, which offered maximum anonymity to the wearer. Our hand and machine stitched replica, created by Dr Niki Miles, is based on an example at the Victoria and Albert Museum c.1760-70. It has been made of modern silk.

What masquerade character would you choose?

Second image: Thomas Rowlandson, Dressing for a Masquerade (1790)
Lewis Walpole Library | 790.04.01.01++

👻 Gothic has arrived at Chawton House… and it seems to have brought the wet weather with it!Strange things are happening...
20/10/2026

👻 Gothic has arrived at Chawton House… and it seems to have brought the wet weather with it!

Strange things are happening around the House this Halloween…

The skeletons have made their way down from the attic and settled in for a rather sinister supper. The witches have been leaving their spellbooks, potions and mysterious ingredients lying around everywhere. A ghost has appeared in the Tapestry Gallery, and a GIANT spider has taken up residence in the Oak Room!

But that's not all... From tomorrow and throughout October half term, we're calling on curious young detectives to help us solve The Poison Puzzle!

Follow the clues around the House, investigate suspicious plants and peculiar potions, and put your detective skills to the test as you unravel the mystery. Then blow away the cobwebs (if the weather allows!) with The Witch's Garden, our outdoor trail full of riddles, strange ingredients and spooky surprises.

🎃 Trails included in entry prince, prizes for completed trails, and Halloween fancy dress is very warmly encouraged!

This week in the Gardens we’ve been up to all sorts! 🌾The Gardens Volunteers have harvested beetroot and apples from the...
16/10/2026

This week in the Gardens we’ve been up to all sorts! 🌾

The Gardens Volunteers have harvested beetroot and apples from the Kitchen Garden, which are ready to be made into delicious Beetroot & Feta Quiches, likely on our specials board in the Old Kitchen Tearoom over the weekend 😋

The Parkland Volunteers have started clearing away brambles from the Wilderness, ready for our Snowdrop display in February! ❄️

They will be fitting this clearing work in alongside their various other jobs all the way until December, making sure our beautiful snowdrops shine come February.

Here our Garden Volunteers got to work cutting the Yew ‘bottles’ found on the Lower Library Terrace.

These were planted by Montague Knight when the terrace was updated to the Arts and Crafts style around 1906.

In the future we may cut them back into their ‘bottle’ shape, but for now they just have a yearly trim!

The Gardens Volunteers have wonderfully harvested all of these Pumpkins and Apples which have beautifully come together into an Autumn Harvest display in our Old Kitchen Tearoom! 🎃

It won’t be long until Gothic Season where this display will get more of a Gothic twist!!

Come back next week to see what we’ve been up to in the Gardens! 🌳

Rakes, society beauties, men of fashion and famed actresses - come and meet the colourful characters of Georgian nightli...
14/10/2026

Rakes, society beauties, men of fashion and famed actresses - come and meet the colourful characters of Georgian nightlife, and discover the fashions, entertainments and dangers of a night out in 18th century Hampshire. We've just released two new Curator's Tour dates - Thursday 12 November | 5.30–7pm, & Sunday 15 November | 11am–12.15pm. Tickets: £15.
To book, visit www.chawtonhouse.org/whats-on

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Chawton
Alton
GU341SJ

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+441420541010

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