See the house where Jane Austen spent the last weeks of her life

In the Summer of 2025, Winchester College opened No. 8 College Street to the public for the first time as part of a worldwide celebration of the anniversary. Through displays and artefacts, visitors could learn about the author’s connections with the city and the story of her last days.

Though not currently open to the public, you can still wander past and stand outside the house, where Jane Austen, along with her sister Cassandra, stayed before she passed away. There's a plaque acknowledging the building's literary history.

Also on College Street is P & G Wells. Jane Austen’s father and brother kept an account here when it was known as John Burdon, ‘gentleman bookseller'. The shop has operated under various owners since 1729, making it one of the longest unbroken records of trading in the country. Behind the shop front installed by P&G Wells with assistance from Winchester College in 1891, the interior retains much of its original Georgian furniture, including bookshelves, drawers, printing presses and a bookbinder’s workbench.

Take a stroll in Jane Austen's Footsteps

Visitors can discover the city as Jane knew it with our new Jane Austen's Winchester self-guided walking trail. Learn more about the people and places that marked Jane’s final weeks, guided by quotes from Jane's letters and illustrations of Georgian Winchester.

A guided walk exploring Jane Austen's Winchester is among the special interest tours run by Winchester Tourist Guides, starting from the city’s Visitor Information Centre. To learn about Jane's wider Hampshire connections, visitors can also take the the Jane Austen's Hampshire trail.

For those who want to literally follow in Jane’s footsteps, the Jane Austen Circular Walk is a must. Start at Jane Austen's House in Chawton and retrace the route she would have taken across fields and through the village of Farringdon. Jane was inspired by this beautiful countryside to write, and revise, all her novels.

Jane Austen’s House runs regular Guided Village Walks around Chawton – discover the village Jane Austen knew and loved, learn about her love of nature, Chawton neighbours, the houses and views she knew, and the importance of village life in shaping her writing. Throughout the walk, short readings from Jane Austen’s letters and novels bring her world to life.

For a longer stroll, the Jane Austen Trail winds its way from the market town of Alton to Chawton village. Starting from Alton High Street, where Jane and her sister Cassandra frequently walked for shopping and entertainment, Alton is also where her brother Henry had a branch of his bank, Austen, Maude and Tilson.