Dearest gentle reader, this author is pleased to announce that the Winchester season is in full swing! Discover a summer of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen, including tantalising theatre, breath-taking balls, and enthralling exhibitions across the district. Make haste, the Jane Austen 250 season awaits!
9 August 2025
Pride & Prejudice
At least one of the Bennet sisters must marry well in order for the family to avoid destitution upon the death of Mr Bennet and so the task of finding suitable matches begins. But, as is always the case, matrimony is easier for some than for others. For Elizabeth Bennet in particular, not all judgements quickly made are correct, in particular when the dashing Mr Darcy is involved…
This Summer, critically acclaimed theatre company This Is My Theatre brings Jane Austen’s classic tale to life in a stunning one-act adaptation to celebrate the author’s 250th anniversary year.
Set with the breath-taking backdrop of Chawton House, enjoy this outdoor performance with your camp chairs, picnics, sun hats, sun cream, sunglasses, raincoats and rain hats in tow! Doors open at 6pm for the performance to begin at 7pm.
16 August 2025
Regency Ball
Winchester’s Great Hall will provide a majestic backdrop for a Regency Ball. The event promises an enchanting evening of dance, drinks and delicious food, as well as live music of the era from Caperbility, dance cards and a silhouettist for an authentic Regency feel.
The ball is suitable for everyone - beginners and more experienced dancers welcome! A caller will announce the dances and instruct you, with her assistants to help you too.
Hampshire Cultural Trust are also delighted to offer ticket holders a special 15% discount at Hampshire Wardrobe so you can really dress the part. Whilst you don't have to dress up, it is certainly welcomed and definitely encouraged! So feel free to adorn your finery and dance the night away like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy!
Your ticket includes a delicious 3 course buffet including some Regency-inspired dishes, a welcome drink on arrival, your hand cut silhouette.
30 August 2025
Regency Candlemaking
Visit Winchester Cathedral for an afternoon of relaxing regency crafts. Led by Laura Fisher’s expert team of luxury candle makers, you will be guided through a sensory journey of seasonal fragrances before hand-pouring your own bespoke candle collection to take home. We will also have the Laura Fisher pop-up shop, so you can browse and take home some lovely gifts.
As your candles set, take a moment to relax with a slice of homemade cake and a perfectly brewed tea, enjoyed within the peaceful, historic setting of this iconic cathedral.
Be sure to spend the final moments of your visit at new exhibition, Angelic Women: The friendship of Jane Austen and Anne Lefroy. This is a special opportunity to view the original manuscript of Jane Austen’s poem, in her hand, about the death of her close friend, Mrs Anne Lefroy.
1 September 2025
Jane Austen: From Page to Stage and Screen
Have you ever wondered how a costume designer uses historical fashion to inspire how they dress Jane Austen’s characters in stage, film, and television adaptations?
Join Dr Alex Walker from Hampshire Wardrobe at The Arc on 1 September for an insightful look into the role of a costume designer, how costume creates character, and how Jane Austen’s characters have been brought to life from the page.
Featuring examples from Hampshire Wardrobe’s collection of costumes, you’ll discover what people were wearing during the Regency period, including their undergarments, and have a close-up look at replica garments. You’ll never look at a period or historical drama the same again!
5 September 2025
An Audience with Lucy Worsley on Jane Austen
Dr. Lucy Worsley has years of experience delivering historical information in digestible and engaging formats. From her work with the BBC, Historic Royal Palaces, and most recently, on her hugely successful Podcast, Lady Killers, Worsley aims to make history accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
Join Lucy as she presents her biography, Jane Austen at Home, at The Great Hall. The book has been recently re-released with a new celebratory 250th Anniversary cover and explores the relationship between space, place and Austen’s personal life. Dispelling the myth of the cynical lonely spinster, Lucy instead offers us a witty and passionate woman of her time, who refuses to settle for anything less than Mr. Darcy.
She will be taking part in a booking signing in the hall after the event. Order your Standard Plus ticket to collect your discounted copy of her book Jane Austen at Home: A Biography - 250th Anniversary Edition) and have it signed by her personally on the night!
12 September 2025 - 21 September 2025
Persuasion & Poetry Festival
The Persuasion and Poetry Festival at Jane Austen's House offers a packed programme of events from talks and tours to workshops, special events and performance. At the heart of the festival is Jane Austen’s last completed novel, Persuasion – a most mature work full of poetry, autumnal wistfulness and longing.
The Festival programme kicks off on 12 September with a poetry evening at local bookshop Goldfinch Books, starring fabulous guest poet Rachel Long. Poetry continues into the weekend with an inspiring poetry workshop and talk by Maura Dooley– award winning poet, Austen lover, and former Poet in Residence at Jane Austen’s House. We’ll be hosting inspiring creative workshops including Botanicals of the Regency led by Geanina Grigore, and Mindful Painting by Kristina Kivu, which promise to be inspiring and relaxing – and a lot of fun!
There will also be some festival favourites, from the popular free Sewing Circle and Drop in and Draw events, a magical Reading Aloud of scenes from Persuasion in the Drawing Room, and a series of wonderful talks. On the last day of the Festival, take advantage of our Full Day Pass which covers House entry and four talks!
All summer
Austen and Winchester
Celebrating the 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s birth, Winchester College's Treasury is hosting an exhibition exploring the relationship between Austen and Winchester College, where eight of her nephews were educated between 1808 and 1830.
The exhibits showcase life at Winchester College in the early nineteenth century, when her nephews were at the College and also when Austen spent the final weeks of her life living on the outskirts of the College, at No. 8 College Street.
Highlights include first editions of Austen’s novels, a copy of Catherine Maria Fanshawe’s ‘Charade’ in Austen’s hand (a rare surviving example of Austen copying out the work of another writer), a copy in her brother James Edward’s handwriting of their father’s poem ‘Venta’ on Jane’s death, and much more.
The Treasury is open 2 - 4pm every day. Entry is free and there is no need to pre-book.
26 July 2025 - 2 November 2025
Beyond the Bonnets: Working Women in Jane Austen's Novels
At The Gallery in The Arc in Winchester and the Willis Museum in Basingstoke, the exhibition Beyond the Bonnets gives a voice to those who were overlooked by many but not neglected in Austen’s novels: working women.
Jane herself was a working woman, and this unique exhibition, which has been specially created for her landmark anniversary year, explores the untold stories not only of working women in her novels, but those of real-life women from Regency Hampshire, whose lives mirrored her fictional characters.
Through Austen’s works and her letters, historic objects and an absorbing, immersive soundscape, encounter women in domestic service – so frequently footnotes in the narrative - or those who owned and ran their own business. Compelling, heartwarming and emotive, Beyond the Bonnets reveals the unexpected and often precarious lives of working women at the time of Jane Austen.
23 May 2025 - 19 October 2025
Angelic Women: The friendship of Jane Austen and Anne Lefroy
This new exhibition at Winchester Cathedral is a special opportunity to view the original manuscript of Jane Austen’s poem, in her hand, about the death of her close friend, Mrs Anne Lefroy. Anne was a mentor to Jane, encouraging her writing and sharing her extensive library before Anne’s untimely death following a riding accident in 1804. Four years later, Jane would pen the poem, ‘To the Memory of Mrs Lefroy' as a testament to this friendship.
Don’t forget to visit the Cathedral Scribes, who are located on the same floor as this exhibition, to find out more about penmanship and calligraphy.
There is no pre-booking required; entry to the exhibition is included with your annual pass. You can buy your annual pass online, or when you arrive at the cathedral.
Image credit: Jane Austen's House
27 July 2025 - 20 October 2025
Jane's Pelisse Coat: On Tour
Donated by a descendant of Jane Austen and now in the collections cared for by Hampshire Cultural Trust, the author’s silk pelisse coat is one of a handful of items that survive today that belonged to Jane and can be traced directly back to her.
The estimated date of the production of the pelisse is around 1812-14, which coincides with the publication of Pride and Prejudice, which was and remains Jane Austen’s most successful novel. She would almost certainly have worn it on special occasions in the last few years of her life, which saw the completion of her last three novels, including Emma.
See it displayed at the City Museum from 27 July until 20 October. Visitors will also be able to see three more of her personal possessions – two purses and her personalised ivory spool case.
22 January 2025 - 24 January 2026
Austenmania!
Celebrating 30 years of the iconic adaptations of 1995, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion and Clueless, this exhibition at Jane Austen's House looks back to an astonishing year of film and TV adaptations that changed the Austen landscape forever.
The exhibition will showcase two original Pride and Prejudice transmission scripts from the Andrew Davies Archive and handwritten notes on the production from the Sue Birtwistle Archive, on loan from De Montfort University.
Production shots, original cinema posters, merchandise and original press cuttings will also feature in the exhibition as well as a facsimile of all the Pride and Prejudice scripts will be available for visitors to leaf through, brought to life via the original BBC Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.
Admission is free with entry to the house, so don't miss the chance to explore your favourite Austen adaptations in the very place they were first written.
