Clothing in the Novels of Jane Austen

Monday 14th September - 11:30

(duration 1 hour)

This talk focuses on the specific items of clothing mentioned in Jane Austen’s six published novels. Dress historian and recreationist, Dr Melissa Shiels, will explore the social and economic significance of the garments that are alluded to in Austen’s novels - the close bonnet of teenage girls, the riding habit of women on the move, the shoe roses of dancing ladies, the dreaded flannel waistcoat, and mourning for a deceased relative.

Tickets £15

The Country House Dining Room: A History of Georgian Feasting

Monday 14th September - 14:00

(duration 1 hour)

Step inside the world of Mr Darcy and Emma Woodhouse with Amy Boyington’s immersive history of the Georgian dining room. Far more than just a place to eat, the dining room was a stage for the intricate social dances of the Regency era. In this talk, Amy explores the flavours and finery of the Regency elite, from the rigid etiquette of the table to the architectural splendour that framed every feast. Discover how the rituals of dining shaped the lives, romances and reputations of the landed gentry in this essential guide to the era’s most delicious history.

Tickets £13

A Beautiful Building Site: What Jane Austen’s Bath looked like

Monday 14th September - 16:00

(duration 1 hour)

Sweeping street of elegant houses may have been how Bath looked in Jane Austen’s time, but it was also a city of half-built and abandoned developments. Dr Amy Frost explores the architecture of Bath as Austen and her characters would have really known it, and invites the audience to imagine (or draw) their own vision for building Austen’s Bath.

Tickets £13

‘A prettyish kind of a little wilderness’ - Landscapes and Gardens in the Novels of Jane Austen

Tuesday 15th September - 12:00 noon

(duration 1 hour)

Timothy Mowl’s lavishly-illustrated talk will consider designed landscapes and gardens in Jane Austen’s novels, not only as representative of current horticultural fads, but as important elements in the plots, providing the background to moments of high emotional drama.
Her life spans the demise of Capability Brown’s minimalist landscaping (died 1783), the growth of Picturesque theory in the late 1780s and 1790s, which she satirizes in Northanger Abbey, and the coming of Humphry Repton, who appears in Mansfield Park, with his promotion of Ornamental Gardening. At the heart of the novels and of this talk are the shrubberies, sweet-scented, shadowy places for exercise, contemplation and romantic assignations.

Tickets £13

Diversity in Jane Austen’s Bath

Tuesday 15th September - 15:30

(duration 1hr 30mins)

Jane Austen’s Bath was a city of spectacle, sociability, and surprising diversity. Join National Trust curator, Dr Tim Manningmore, for a journey into the vibrant world of Georgian Bath and the radical inclusivity of its world-famous assemblies. 

Drawing on extensive curatorial research into the lives of LGBTQA+ people in eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain, and the vibrant histories of People of Colour in Georgian-era Bath, this talk explores the untold narratives of communities who lived and thrived in the city, and shaped the world that Jane Austen knew and wrote about.

Dr Tim Manningmore's research has been enabled thanks to generous funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, in addition to the kind support of National Trust volunteers.

Tickets £15

Jane Austen's Bath Abbey

Wednesday 16th September - 11:30

(duration 1 hour)

With her family associations, visiting, living and setting two of her novels in Bath, Jane Austen not only knew the city well but also many of its inhabitants. Bath Abbey is full of memorials and some of them relate to people the Austens would have met in the streets, the shops, at concerts, the theatre as well as family friends. Jackie Herring (author of Jane Austen's Bath Abbey) shares new research into just a few of the 6,540 Bath Abbey "residents".

You’ve read the book now meet the people. There will be the opportunity to accompany Jackie on an Austen related tour of Bath Abbey in the afternoon.

Tickets £13

"Violets, Virtues, and Vanities: The Secret Language of Austen’s Flowers - talk"

Wednesday 16th September - 13:30

(duration 1 hour)

Before Floriography became a Victorian craze, Jane Austen was already using botanical codes to define her heroines. Shifting from the cold, scientific botany of the 1700s to the emotional symbolism of the Romantic movement, this talk reveals how flowers spoke when words could not.

Discover why Elizabeth Bennet’s wild gardens were a social rebellion and how Darcy’s violets signalled a hidden modesty. From the Austen family’s crop-tracking to the secret codes of Regency bouquets, join Sarah Bedford to discover the tiny, floral meanings Austen hid in plain sight. Whether you are a gardener, a scholar, or a romantic at heart, you will leave with a new floral lens through which to read your favourite novels.

Tickets £13

The Art of the Regency Seamstress with Janette Haslam: ladies Period Costumier

Wednesday 16th September - 15:30

(duration 1 hour)

Join veteran costumier Janette Haslam for an immersive look into the creation of Regency dress. Drawing on 40 years of experience in film, theatre and the west end, Janette reveals her meticulous process: from historical research and toile modelling to adapting extant patterns and perfecting intricate hand-finishing. This lecture highlights Janette’s recreations from the 2025 Barreto-Lancaster auction.

Attendees will gain insight into historical craftsmanship, followed by an opportunity to examine the garments up close and discuss costume techniques with Janette.

Tickets £13

Tolls, trotters and equine trading in Regency England

Friday 18th September - 10:00

(duration 1 hour)

A whistle stop tour through the trade and trading of harness horses and carriages and the taxation of vehicles on the Regency roads of England. Join Amy Bracey, Project Curator for The Carriage Foundation as she shares her expertise on Regency travel.

Tickets £13

Crafting Worlds: Women's Domestic Accomplishments in the Era of Jane Austen

Friday 18th September - 11:30

(duration 1 hour)

In this talk Dr Freya Gowrley will discuss an array of Georgian crafts in and out of Austen. Focusing on needlework, she will chart good and bad varieties of women’s work, the relationship to education, and why so many women were shown embroidering in their portraits.

Tickets £13

A Bookshelf Full of Austens

Friday 18th September - 13:30

(duration 1 hour)

First editions of Jane Austen’s novels rarely come on the market but when they do they command high prices. But what is a first edition? Is it possible to make money out of old and rare books? Does beautiful mean good or is a plain cover better? Jackie Herring will attempt to answer these and other questions as well as show some of her own very special collection of Austen editions.

Tickets £13

Austen Ablaze: The Destruction of Jane Austen's Letters

Saturday 19th September - 10:00

(duration 1 hour)

The burning of Austen's letters by her sister, Cassandra, is one of the most notable moments of literary vandalism in history. Join historian Dr Zoe Screti as she explores Cassandra's motivations. From desires to uphold Austen's reputation, turning witty words unbefitting a woman of sense and delicate sensibilities to ash before she could become subject to prejudice, through Austen being the object of Cassandra's envy, to the persuasions of Austen herself to maintain her privacy (there are secrets in all families, after all!), she'll unpack the leading theories about what really caused Cassandra to shape Austen's legacy forever.

Tickets £13

Jealousy in Jane Austen - with John Mullan

Saturday 19th September - 11:30

(duration 1hr 30mins)

Jane Austen’s characters reveal themselves by being jealous. Why do Austen’s heroines have to watch so carefully for the signs of jealousy in others - and how subject to jealousy are they themselves?

This talk will answer those questions, and show the differences between women’s jealousies and men’s. We will see that jealousy is somewhere near the heart of every one of Austen's novels.

Tickets £16

Jane Austen’s Sick Characters with John Mullan - talk

Saturday 19th September - 14:00

(duration 1hr 30mins)

There are plenty of characters in Jane Austen’s fiction who claim to be ill, but how many of them actually are? Do some people bring sickness upon themselves? This talk will look both those characters who seem to relish their ailments, and those who appear to have been made unwell by life.

How can Austen so often treat sickness comically, when she lived in a world where medicine was ineffectual and death always just round the corner?

Tickets £16