Wednesday 17th September 2025
In Pursuit of Jane Austen - minibus tour to Hampshire
7:45 (return by 17:00)
Meet: Outside the Jane Austen Centre, 40 Gay Street, BA1 2NT
All-day minibus tour to Hampshire tracing Jane's footsteps and life. First her birthplace Steventon, then Chawton where much of her writing took place. Visiting Winchester, King Alfred's capital of England and Jane's final resting place in the cathedral. Meander with guide Adge through the ancient streets, impressive Peninsula Barracks and castle ruins. An unforgettable and atmospheric tour.
For this event you will travel in our new for 2025 bigger 21st Century minibus, accompanied by your tour guide Adge Secker.
Tickets £100 (excludes entrance fees)
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Bookbinding for Jane Austen
9:00 (duration 2hrs 30mins)
Venue: Duncan Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN
Bookbinding for Jane Austen - rediscover the joys of making with your hands and engage with the ultimate portable technology: the book. But not just any book. The covers will be made using wallpaper faithfully reproduced from Jane Austen's house, Chawton.
In this workshop, Kate will guide you step-by-step in the traditional craft of bookbinding. You will come away with a hardback book that you have made from scratch and all the basic bookbinding skills that will enable you to continue and elaborate at home.
This session is suitable for all (8+ children to be supervised). All materials and tools will be provided. Some of those tools are sharp!
Tickets £55
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Dye and colour in Regency life
10:00 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: Elwin Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN
Learn about colour in Regency times. Trace the creatively described colours of fashions in the journals of the time back to the ancient art and alchemy of natural colours. This lecture will explore the fascinating sources including, plants, spices, animals and elements used. The complex processes, which sit somewhere between science and magic, used to consistently create colours across the spectrum. Exploring how these colours were named and sold through fashion journals before finally looking at the practical issues of wearing and maintaining naturally coloured clothing.
Tickets £13
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Fencing Workshop
10:00 & 11:30 (duration 1hr 15mins)
Venue: City of Bath Scouts, 7 Grove St, Bathwick, BA2 6PJ
Join a Fencing taster workshop with Bath Sword Club and enjoy a taste of the sport rumoured to be Mr Darcy’s favourite. Learn offensive & defensive stances, putting them into choreographed non-contact sequences to experience your own ‘duel’.
Regency costume very welcome, but please be aware that protective safety equipment will be worn including a full head mask and glove. Flat shoes advised.
Tickets £25
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A Very Private Public Breakfast
10:00 (duration 1hr 30mins)
Venue: Kinwarton, 3 Upper Camden Place, (part of) Camden Rd, BA1 5HX (20 mins walk)
Sample the delights of an 18th Century public breakfast just as Jane Austen did in Bath. Bread rolls, toasted fruit bread, cake, tea (Jane Austen blend) or coffee - all in the private dining room of a typical Regency Bath house. Breakfast is accompanied by a talk from Jane Tapley.
Tickets £18
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Jane Austen & Bath - walking tour
10:00 & 14:30 (duration 1hr 30mins)
Meet: Outside the Jane Austen Centre, 40 Gay Street, BA1 2NT
Oh! Who could ever be tired of Bath?’ So said Jane Austen’s character Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey, which (along with her novel Persuasion) is set in Bath. Through family links and having visited and lived in the city, Austen knew Bath very well indeed. Come and find out more on this walking tour led by Mr Knightley of The Jane Austen Centre.
Tickets £14
Living with Jane Austen - talk
11:30 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: Elwin Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN
Janet Todd has been reading Jane Austen for many decades, observing how her work alters through the lens of evolving taste and cultural fashion: also through changes in herself as she passes through different periods of life.
Recently, Janet Todd has come to appreciate the bracing, humorous way Austen deals with bodies and their disorders--including her own. Engaging with the medical buzzword of the times—‘nerves’—through her characters, Austen investigates the subtle interaction of mind and body, the discomfort that seeps from one to the other. Finally, Janet Todd looks at Austen’s private letters where she exposes her own ‘nervous’ quality.
Tickets: £13
Fabric Dye Workshop
12:30 & 15:00 (duration 2 hours)
Venue: Duncan Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN
Led by Dr Lindsey Holmes, this workshop allows you to try your hand at dyeing fabrics using plants and flowers, exploring both period and modern techniques. You will create a range of swatches and a guide on how to repeat these processes once you get home, with advice suited to your local plants and flowers.
Feel free to bring small samples of fabrics you want to dye, although everything you need will be provided!
Tickets: £35
Ladies & Gentlemen on Parade
13:30 (duration 4 hours)
Meet: Outside the taxi rank entrance of Bath Spa Train Station, BA1 1SU
Enjoy a unique Regency Costumed event at one of Wiltshire’s finest Georgian buildings. Dressed in your own Regency finery, you’ll be escorted by "Mr Darcy" on a short 18 minute train journey through the beautiful scenic countryside to the magnificent Parade House in Trowbridge.
Your ticket includes train travel, a House History Tour by the owners, a delicious Full Afternoon Cream Tea with a glass of Champagne in the grand Ballroom, Regency Parlour Games and Theatrical Entertainment.
You will be met a Bath Spa station by “Mr D’Arcy" & "Mrs Bennet” and accompanied by train on a short 18 minute train journey through the beautiful scenic Wiltshire countryside to magnificent Parade House in Trowbridge. Then you will promenade from the train station to Parade House (approximately a 5-7 minute walk) for a press photo-call, followed by a House Tour, Regency Cream Tea in the Ballroom with Theatrical Entertainment and Parlour Games.
Tickets £120
Book Tickets
250 years before Jane Austen: a short and partial version of British history - talk
14:00 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: Elwin Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN
In this fully illustrated talk, Director of Jane Austen’s House takes us back in time to explore the seismic political, religious, and social changes that shaped the world that Jane Austen was born into in 1775. From the Mary Queen of Scots to the South Sea bubble and beyond, we will explore ten key events that shaped both the writer and her world.
Tickets £13
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Mansfield Park Book Club
14:00 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: Bath Central Library, 19-23 The Podium, Bath BA1 5AN
You are welcomed to Jane Austen Festival book club, graciously hosted by Bath Library. We will be discussing Mansfield Park in small groups, so bring your copy along and come prepared to chat and share your thoughts with others! We will start with the questions attendees suggested when booking, and then see where the discussion leads each small group...
Please reserve a place to indicate you will be attending. You can also suggest a question or point to discuss during the session when booking.
Free event - please reserve your place
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"Every Savage Can Dance" - Regency dance workshop
14:00 (duration 1hr 30mins)
Venue: City of Bath Scouts, 7 Grove St, Bathwick, BA2 6PJ
Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the BBC adaptation and 20th anniversary of the film of Pride and Prejudice with the Jane Austen Dancers, enjoying some of the ever-popular, but harder dances that feature in these much loved adaptations.
Aimed at those with previous dance experience, there’s no need to bring a partner. Period costume (no trains) is welcome but not essential. Please wear flat, non-slip shoes, light clothing and bring a drink. A good understanding of English is necessary to understand the teaching.
Tickets £18
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Pre-Ball dance workshop - Rose Ball
14:00 - 15:30 (duration 1hr 30mins)
Venue: Percy Community Centre, New King St, Bath BA1 2BN
This Regency dance workshop is a practice session for those attending the Rose Ball in the evening. A chance to meet others attending the evening's ball and to perfect your steps! Led by Liz Bartlett of the Jane Austen Dancers. Purchase together with your Rose Ball ticket as these workshop tickets are not sold separately.
Tickets £15 - purchase together with your Rose Ball tickets
Gothic Tales in the Grotto - at Beckford’s Tower
14:00, 14:45 & 15:30 (duration 2 hours)
Venue: Beckford's Tower Museum, Lansdown Road, Bath, BA1 9BH
Channel your inner Catherine Morland and immerse yourself in all things gothic! Leave Bath’s beaten track and discover the hidden Tower. In the recently excavated underground Grotto, you will be treated to scintillating Austen-themed stories as you’ve never heard before, from immersive storyteller Sarah Slater. Then, head up to the Tower itself to enjoy the views and explore the museum.
Please note: museum contains themes of enslavement and exploitation.
Comfortable footwear recommended. Uneven ground will be covered. No seating is available in the grotto.
Tickets £20
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Jane Austen's Bath Homes - walking tour
14:00 (duration 2hrs 15mins)
Meet: At the entrance to Green Park Park, Green Park Buildings, BA1 1HZ
Mrs Austen, accompanied by Jane, came to Bath in 1801, looking for suitable accommodation to rent; eventually living at four different addresses in the city. So where did Jane Austen actually live?
Walk with Bath Parade Guides to find the locations of her Bath homes and other houses associated with her. The tour ends at 4 Sydney Place, opposite the Holburne Museum where refreshments are available.
Tickets £13
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The Worlds of Jane Austen - with Helena Kelly - talk
16:00 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: Elwin Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN
The Worlds of Jane Austen takes a fresh look at Jane Austen’s life, inspirations and legacy, drawing on the latest research in an accessible and lively way.
Despite the tranquil image of Austen that lingers in the popular imagination, her life coincided with a period of intense, immense change. The American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution, the uprising in Ireland… All through Austen’s early life, the old certainties were being subjected to challenge, new ideas were springing up – about democracy, freedom, slavery, poetry, the position of women.
Helena Kelly is the author of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016)."
Tickets £13
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Almost Austen - musical performance
18:00 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn St, Bath BA1 1UF
Catherine is a modern girl in love with Jane Austen's world. She can't believe her luck when she meets her very own 'Mr Tilney'. Through passages from Northanger Abbey and songs from Musicals and Opera, we follow Catherine's romantic ups and downs as real life and fantasy collide.
Tickets £22
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Reading with Delight: Jane Austen or Hannah More? - talk
19:00 (duration 1hr 30mins)
Venue: Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LY
Austen’s friends were ‘reading with delight Mrs. H. More’s recent publication’. Evangelical author Hannah More, far more popular than Jane Austen, helped reform her society’s moral values and promoted education for women and the poor and abolition of slavery. Why is Hannah More forgotten today, while Austen still delights readers around the world?
Brenda S. Cox will compare and contrast these authors, concluding with a book signing for Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. Regency costume very welcome but not mandatory.
Tickets £13
Tickets not yet on sale
Ghost Walk
19:30 (duration 1hr 30mins)
Meet: Outside the main door of Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LT
Take a leisurely night-time stroll through the haunted streets of Bath - listen to eerie stories of murder, mystery, mayhem, and ghosts. Including tales of execution areas, haunted pubs, the old hospital, theatre and, of course, the duelling ground where so many met a grisly fate. A scary and fun evening out!
Tickets £17
Austen Delights
19:30 (duration 3 hours)
Venue: Regency Tea Room, Jane Austen Centre, 40 Gay Street, BAth, BA1 2NT
Partake of a decadent selection of High Tea Treats, finished off with a traditional Regency pudding in the gorgeous surroundings of the Regency Tea Room. Complete with bubbles and highly entertaining Austen interpretations, why not escape for a couple of hours to this haven of literary fiction?
Tickets £58
Stargazing at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy with the Bath Astronomers
20:00 & 21:05 (duration 1 hour)
Venue: Herschel Museum of Astronomy, 19 New King Street, BA1 2BL
Join the Bath Astronomers in the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, where the Planet Uranus was discovered from by William Herschel on 13th March 1781. Half of the evening will be spent star-gazing (weather dependent!), the other half will be exploring the house where brother and sister musicians- turned- astronomers, William and Caroline Herschel, lived from 1777 to 1782.
Please note: in the event of poor weather the event will go ahead even if stargazing is not possible, as a tour and talk around the museum will be provided from Bath Astronomers.
Tickets £20
Rose Ball
20:00 (duration 3hrs 30mins)
Venue: Pump Room, Stall St, Bath BA1 1LZ
We welcome you to an evening of dinner and Regency dancing in Bath's Pump Rooms. Tickets will include a two course dinner, with Regency dances called by Liz Bartlett of the Jane Austen Dancers and live music from Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer. We invite you to continue the "On Wednesdays we wear pink" theme into the evening and include some pink in your Regency costume for this event!
Regency costume is mandatory for this event.
Tickets £110
*All ticket prices include transaction processing fee
