16th February 2026

A History of Jane Austen Festival Fashion Themes. 
Fashion themes started, back in 2017, entirely as a bit of fun amongst the volunteer stewarding team. An agreement to dress up for a gothic fashion talk soon turned into 'Gothic Day'.  Turban Tuesday quickly followed, in honour of steward Lucy's excellent turban game. Soon after, some of our wonderful festival attendees couldn't help but notice how beautifully coordinated our stewarding team were, and asked if we would share the themes in advance of the festival, so they might join in too. We want to stress that themes are always just for fun, and we don't want anyone to feel pressured to join in!  Fashion Steward Helen always has lots of fun researching fashion plates and coming up with possible themes, but this year we'd love your help!

Some of our favourite themes in the past have included: -
- Fashion Plate Friday
- Gothic Day
- Matilda Monday (in honour of our favourite IKEA curtains)
 -On Wednesdays We Wear Pink
- Thrifty Thursday (we love to hear the stories of how people reused or rescued the fabric to make their Thrifty Thursday outfits!)

We'll be running a poll on our social media accounts so you can make your suggestions for our 2026 themes. So, get your thinking-bonnets and top hats on! Alternatively, if social media is not your thing, feel free to email us your suggestions.

10th February 2026

The Jane Austen Festival is delighted to announce that, arm-in-arm with our dear friends at Bath Arts Collective, we will be holding our Grand Regency Costumed Promenade on Saturday 12th September 2026! More details will be revealed in the fullness of time; stroll over to our Promenade page to see the most recent information. Alas, we don’t yet have a confirmed date for when Promenade wristbands will go on sale. Sign up to our newsletter to be kept abreast of developments!

30th January 2026

The dark days of January (the month in which Marianne gets chucked by Willoughby, Jane Bennet doesn’t get to see Bingley in London and Frank Churchill once again fails to rock up in Hartfield) are nearly over. Huzzah! To warm your hearts and get you through the final few chilly days, we have the most frightfully exciting news to reveal… the schedule of ball and dance events for the 2026 Jane Austen Festival. 

We’re sure the question on everyone’s lips is “When will tickets go on sale?”. Alas, we are not yet in a position to confirm the date when tickets will go on sale, however we are going to be holding two separate ticket-drops for Festival tickets this year: one for balls and tea dances, and a later one for everything else.  

To read our January Newsletter with all our latest 2026 Festival information click the button below.

29th January 2026

Tickets for our Summer and Yuletide Balls went on sale today and swiftly sold out, with the majority of tickets sold with fifteen minutes.

19th January 2026

We are delighted to announce our 2026 Programme cover/poster.