Four member of Woodley visited The Vyne a National Trust Grade 1 16th century house near Basingstoke Hampshire on a chilly day where they are doing a Jane Austen exhibition. Regency Revisited – Celebrating Jane Austin 250. A free event although you have to pay for normal admission.
They arrived before the house opening time of 11:00 and headed for the coffee shop stopping on the way for the above photo with Jane’s bench. Apparently there were three benches altogether in the Vyne gardens which were loaned to the exhibition by private owners but they only found two of them. Each bench reflected a personal interpretation of her life and works. The Jane Austin exhibition was upstairs but on entering the ground floor one of the rooms was dedicated for storing the cleaning equipment which is used for the upkeep of the house from its many visitors.
In the Austen exhibition they discovered Jane’s links to the house with her views on the Chute family who owned the house from the mid 18th century until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1958. She had a friendship with Thomas Chute who admired her novels. Beautiful Regency costumes worn by members of her family are displayed as well as what Regency life and love was like for those living here. Also on display are artifacts and some of Jane’s first addition novels.
After lunch they went for a walk around the grounds to find the other two benches and saw ladies in the walled garden picking apples which were on sale at the entrance and they finished the day with ice creams.