A party and celebrations held over six days in Autumn 2026
Monday 26th - Saturday 31st October
“One cannot have too large a party. A large party secures its own amusement.”
Make your booking for two before 30th of June and receive a complimentary costume for every day of the celebrations!
More than a holiday, this is a graceful step back in time celebrating the enduring legacy of Jane Austen in a city that shaped her voice.
Our annual event, held over six days in autumn, brings the pages of Austen’s novels to life in the very streets where she once walked. From Regency-era costumes to elegant Georgian venues, guests are immersed in the world of Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion, all while surrounded by the historic beauty of Bath.
We are delighted to invite you
The Celebrations Include:
You will spend five nights at this fabulous boutique hotel.
The award-winning Gainsborough Bath Spa Hotel is the perfect setting for our celebrations. Nestled in the heart of the city, just moments away from some of the most significant sites in Jane Austen’s life and times, it offers luxury accommodation, historical charm and an exceptional on-site thermae spa.
Occupying two 18th century Grade II listed buildings with distinguished Georgian and Victorian façades, The Gainsborough is deeply entwined with Bath’s illustrious past and stands as a tribute to the city’s enduring legacy as a centre of culture, refinement and relaxation.
Retaining significant evidence of Bath’s illustrious history well beyond its façade, The Gainsborough Bath Spa’s name pays homage to the famed portrait and landscape artist, Sir Thomas Gainsborough, who lived in Bath between 1759 and 1774 and was a central figure in Bath society.
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Should you wish to extend your stay over the weekend, we can arrange accommodation for Saturday night.
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We can also assist with airport transfers and/or public transport guidance.
A relaxed interactive talk on ‘Learning Romance: The Road to Persuasion’ with John Mullan, Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.
A talk on ‘Half Agony, Half Hope’: Jane Austen and the Love Letter’ by academic and author, Professor Jennie Batchelor, Head of English and Related Literature at the University of York.
A talk with Dr Leigh Wetherall Dickson, Associate Professor at Northumbria University
Talk with Dr Hillary Burlock, Historian at the University of Liverpool, on the ‘Society of the Assembly Rooms in Jane Austen’s World’
Talk with Professor Timothy Mowl, Emeritus Professor of the History of Architecture and Designed Landscapes at Bristol University . ‘A Prettyish Kind of a Little Wilderness: Landscapes in the novels of Jane Austen’
Talk from Architectural Historian, Dr Moira Rudolf.
A talk from author Zoe Wheddon
An embroidery workshop and talk with Alison Larkin
Visit to No1 Royal Crescent Museum
A guided walk of Bath with a Jane Austen expert
A day visit with an expert guide to the Jane Austen House Museum & Chawton House
A visit to the charming village of Lacock with an expert guide
A Regency dance workshop with a caller, piped music and helpers
An embroidery workshop with expert needlewoman and historian Alison Larkin. (All materials will be provided.)
A walk in the countryside outside Bath just as Jane herself enjoyed
A celebratory Jane Austen dinner on the final day
A welcome reception on Day One and a sumptuous Afternoon High Tea Day Four.
You may wish to pay homage to the refined customs of the times and immerse yourself even further into Jane Austen’s world by taking part in these experiences dressed in period costume.
You may bring your own costume/s, or we can help with hire and arrange for a costume (or several different costumes) to be delivered to the hotel in time for your arrival. (Please note, there is an additional fee for this service. Please email to enquire.)
Cost for So Fine an Engagement?
£2,275 per person sharing a twin/double room
Single room supplement: £825
The rate includes:
• 5 nights bed and breakfast accommodation at the 5* Gainsborough Bath Spa Hotel
• 6x talks with Jane Austen experts
• Regency dance workshop with caller, piped music and dance helpers
• Embroidery workshop
• Bath walking tour with Jane Austen expert
• ‘Jane Austen goes House Hunting’ walking tour of Bath with an expert
• Day visit to Hampshire with Jane Austen expert
• Afternoon Tea at the Gainsborough
• Celebratory Dinner with 1x glass of wine or non-alcoholic drink
• 1x evening buffet
• 1x evening canapes
• 5x evening glass of fizz
• 1 x sandwich lunch
• Private coach transfers for excursions to Hampshire and Lacock
• Entrances to: Jane Austen House Museum; Chawton House; No.1 Royal Crescent Museum
Please enquire if you wish to include additional nights at either end of the Celebrations or other added elements, such as transport and visits in the UK
It’s such a happiness when good people get together.
What to look forward to
Monday 26th October
Arrive and welcome with tea/coffee
Please aim to arrive by 2pm. Check in time is usually 3pm. You can store luggage securely at the hotel until this time.
4pm – ‘‘Learning Romance: The Road to Persuasion’, a relaxed, interactive talk with Professor John Mullan. Tea /coffee will be served.
Books available to buy from Mr B’s Emporium, an award-winning independent book shop close to the Gainsborough Hotel.
6pm – a glass of fizz followed by a relaxed buffet supper during which you will have the chance to chat with local Jane Austen expert(s).
Tuesday 27th October
9.30am – A Strictly Jane Austen walking tour of Bath, followed by a visit to No1 Royal Crescent Museum
Free time for lunch. (Please note, lunch is not included in the programme price.)
2pm – Talk with Professor Jennie Batchelor. ‘Half Agony, half hope’: Jane Austen and the Love Letter
Afternoon – an historic embroidery workshop, with expert needlewoman, Alison Larkin. You will learn the basics of Georgian embroidery styles, using stitches and techniques common during the early 19th century. (All materials will be provided.) Tea/coffee will be available.
Early evening glass of fizz and relaxed chat with local Jane Austen expert(s), followed by free time.
Wednesday 28th October
9am-5.30pm – A full day visit by private coach to the Jane Austen House Museum and Chawton House accompanied by expert guide(s).
A sandwich buffet lunch is included.
Evening – Talk with Dr Hillary Burlock, the ‘Society of the Assembly Rooms in Jane Austen’s world’
A glass of fizz and canapes will be served.
Thursday 29th October
9am-2pm A morning visit to the village of Lacock by private coach with expert guide(s). (Please note, lunch is not included in the programme price.)
2.30pm – afternoon tea in the hotel restaurant
4pm – Talk with Professor Timothy Mowl, Emeritus Professor of the History of Architecture and Designed Landscapes at Bristol University: Landscapes and Gardens in the novels of Jane Austen.
6pm – join in a Regency Dance Workshop with a caller, piped music and dance helpers.
7.30pm – A glass of fizz will be served.
Friday 30th October
10am – Talk with Professor Leigh Weatherall-Dickson . Talk title/content TBC
Tea/coffee will be served.
Free time for shopping/lunch and to explore Bath independently.
This afternoon for those who wish to join, Dr Moira Rudolf will lead a guided walk: Jane Austen: Her Homes & Her Friends (1.5 hours)
6pm – a glass of fizz and relaxed chat with a local Jane Austen expert, followed by a celebratory Jane Austen dinner and glass of wine in the company of local Jane Austen experts.
Saturday 31st October
10am – ‘Jane Austen, Daddy’s Girl: The Life and Influence of The Revd George Austen’, a talk with Zoe Wheddon. Tea/coffee will be served.
11am – check out of the hotel
If you wish to spend some time in Bath, luggage can be safely stored at the hotel.
The Guest Speakers & Experts
John Mullan is Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He has published widely on eighteenth and nineteenth-century literature and, in 2009, was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize.
In his work, John has been a longtime champion of the achievements of Jane Austen and the impact of her writing. He is probably best known to Austen fans as the author of ‘What Matters in Jane Austen?’ (Bloomsbury, 2012). This provocative title has led to many speaking engagements at the Jane Austen Festival, the Hampshire Regency Festival and other events worldwide.
He has also contributed many articles to the Guardian that commemorate milestones in nineteenth-century fiction and his assessment of ‘Emma‘ is a particular eye-opener. He offered a fresh reading of the novel to celebrate the 200th anniversary of publication in 2015. He also published new editions of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ in 2017 and ‘Emma’ in 2022, both for Oxford World’s Classics.
John’s other books include ‘Anonymity: A Secret History of English Literature’ (Faber and Faber, 2007) and, most recently, ‘The Artful Dickens‘ (Bloomsbury, 2020). He is also a broadcaster and journalist, writing on contemporary fiction for the Guardian and is the author of ‘How Novels Work‘ (OUP, 2006).
John will be appearing at our 2026 Spring and Autumn Celebrations
Professor Jennie Batchelor, Head and Professor of English at the University of York, Jennie is an academic, author and speaker who has written and edited several books on women’s writing, eighteenth century dress and early women’s magazines. She also gives public lectures, writes articles and guest blogs on these subjects and can regularly be heard on podcasts, the radio and – occasionally – on TV. Her most recent books include The Lady’s Magazine and the Making of Literary History (2022) and Jane Austen Embroidery (2020, with Alison Larkin). Until she relocated to the North of England, Jennie was Patron of the Kent branch of the Jane Austen Society, and in 2025 she is Co-Curator of the major exhibition ‘Austen and Turner: a Country House Encounter’ at Harewood House, near Leeds.
Journey to Austen: When I was 9 years old, I saw the 1940 Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. I fell in love with it and with Jane Austen. For my tenth birthday, my parents bought me an illustrated edition of the complete works of Jane Austen and I fell in love all over again, though I found myself unreasonably annoyed that Lizzy Bennet didn’t do archery in the book. Despite a rather joyless year unravelling Emma for A-Level, my fascination with Austen’s life and work only strengthened over the next decade. As I embarked on my BA, MA and then PhD I became ever more fascinated with the women that Austen read but made a determined effort to keep my love of Jane Austen for leisure and pleasure reading rather than allowing it to be central to my research. All that changed in 2002, the year I completed my PhD and was offered a postdoctoral fellowship to work at the soon-to-open Chawton House Library and establish its collaboration with the University of Southampton. Since then, I have published on Jane Austen’s life, her writing and needlework. I am still disappointed that Lizzy Bennet does not do archery.
Jennie will present on Jane Austen and the Love Letter for our Spring and Autumn Celebrations in 2026
Dr Leigh Wetherall Dickson is an Associate Professor at Northumbria University. In December 2006, she joined Northumbria as the Leverhulme Research Associate for the three-year project ‘Before Depression: Representation and Culture of the English Malady, 1660-1800’, and since then has become a full-time lecturer in eighteenth and nineteenth-century English Literature. In 2015, she enjoyed a Chawton House Fellowship, living alongside the Austen-Knight homes and working in the library at the great house. Her publications include an edited collection of the ‘Works of Lady Caroline Lamb‘ (2009) and the provocatively titled ‘Disease and Death in the Eighteenth Century’ (2016).
As a child, Leigh was a precocious reader who loved Austen. However, she did not fully engage with the study of her novels until years later when she discovered the works of Lady Caroline Lamb. These seemingly dissimilar women, one the daughter of a clergyman and the other the aristocratic mistress of a famous poet, helped to shine a light on the variety and excitement of the Regency period.
Leigh was astounded to find that Austen and Lamb both engaged with the Regency “as an extraordinarily self-conscious moment of change and speculative uncertainty,” that “is made fascinatingly distinct by a restless energy all of its own.” She was particularly interested in the relationships between fashion, gambling, and sociability.
Leigh will joining both our Spring and Autumn Celebrations in 2026
Dr Hillary Burlock is a Historian at the University of Liverpool, working on the histories of British assembly rooms in the 18th and 19th centuries. She was awarded her PhD in History at Queen Mary University of London in 2022 where she explored the connection between politics and social dance from 1760 to 1832. Hillary also gives public lectures, writes articles and guest blogs on these subjects, and has explored the assembly rooms as Jane Austen would have experienced them in Bath and beyond. She has held fellowships at the Lewis Walpole Library, Huntington Library, and Royal Archives, and has recently published a collection of essays on the cultural influence of Bath’s Assembly Rooms with Routledge. Hillary has another co-edited collection on dance and sociability in the long eighteenth century forthcoming from Bloomsbury in 2026.
Dr Burlock will be joining our Autumn Celebrations in 2026
A native of Jane Austen’s Hampshire, Zoe Wheddon brings sympathy and insight to her biographies dealing with real-life characters that moved in Austen’s orbit. Her passion for research into the novelist’s life and times allows her to shine a light on Austen’s background and her many influences.
Zoe’s first Austen-related biography, ‘Jane Austen’s Best Friend: The Life and Influence of Martha Lloyd’ draws attention to Martha, an often-overlooked figure, and highlights the life-changing importance that this friendship held for Austen. Published in 2021, it was described by historian Lucy Worsley as a “glorious celebration of the author and her friendship” with companion and housekeeper Martha.
The relationships in Austen’s inner circle deserve some scrutiny and greater understanding because of the role they play in her fiction. Zoe’s mission as a writer is to look beneath the surface and interpret the evidence on record to draw an intimate portrait of the novelist’s world.
Zoe’s second work, ‘Jane Austen Daddy’s Girl: The Life and Influence of the Revd. George Austen’ was published in 2024. This book weaves together a father-daughter biography with, according to writer Natalie Jenner, “palpable affection’ and ‘illuminating detail.” Austen expert, Professor Devoney Looser, reflects on how George Austen’s influence is “often understated”. “That’s why,” she adds, “‘Jane Austen Daddy’s Girl’ is such a brilliant book, weaving archival evidence into an illuminating, enjoyable read.”
Fans and readers feel that they know Austen so well thanks to her tone and narrative style. She draws us in, and we believe we can identify the real person, the friend, the daughter through her fiction. Zoe sifts the information and shows us why we encounter the author the way we do. As Devoney Looser remarks, “Zoe Wheddon’s father-daughter biography is a welcome wonder of both research and storytelling.”
Zoe will be joining both Spring and Autumn 2026 Celebrations
Dr. Moira Rudolf is an expert Walking Tour Guide in Bath. She originally qualified as an Art Historian with a degree from the University of Manchester before going on to study Architectural History at the Courtauld Institute. She gained her PhD on the Work of Thomas Harrison of Chester [Architect] 1744-1829; the man who introduced the Greek revival to the Northwest of England.
Moira’s particular passion is for the eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture of Bath, and her expertise is second to none. She made the city her home in 1999 and has led tours ever since, appearing regularly at the Jane Austen Festival. On a visit as a five-year-old child, the surroundings of the city drew her in and the works and wit of Austen have only added to her fascination and desire to share her interests with audiences.
Moira, who likes to meet her groups dressed in period Regency costume, bases her walking tours on various themes. In the ‘Jane Austen’s Footsteps’ guided walks, for example, she contrasts Austen’s two ‘Bath’ novels ‘Northanger Abbey’ and ‘Persuasion’ and brings the author’s view of the city to life, while in ‘Jane Austen and the Pleasure Garden,’ she explores the social scene. Using her collection of historical illustrations and prints, she takes visitors back in time to the site of firework displays, concerts, and The Sydney Tap public house using her research to reveal the hidden histories of the city.
Dr Rudolf will be joining both Spring and Autumn 2026 Celebrations
A retired teacher, Alison Larkin lectures and conducts workshops on historic embroidery. She is particularly interested in work on domestic articles, dress, and costume from the Georgian period. She is also co-author of ‘Jane Austen Embroidery’ (2020) with Professor Jennie Batchelor. She is a devoted fan of Jane Austen, especially ‘Mansfield Park’ and ‘Persuasion’, and loves the adaptations for the costumes.
Alison Larkin’s life is steeped in her experience with embroidery. She learned from an early age and returned to the craft to de-stress when she was a college tutor.
When she took redundancy from full-time teaching, she started to work on embroidery full-time, beginning with a huge challenge – a project to recreate a waistcoat which had originally been stitched for Captain Cook by his wife Elizabeth. The original was never completed as Cook was killed in Hawaii, and the project was to make a replica, and complete it, for exhibition in the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby. This took Alison into Georgian embroidery and she soon realised that there were few people researching this aspect of the history of embroidery or textiles. Believing that we will lose the skills if we are not careful, Alison now adapts Georgian techniques and materials and finds corresponding twenty-first century equivalents.
Alison will be leading needlecraft workshops, teaching participants in 2026 Spring and Autumn Celebrations to decorate items with authentic designs beloved by Austen and her family.
Timothy Mowl is Emeritus Professor of History of Architecture and Designed Landscapes at the University of Bristol. After two decades writing books on architectural history, in 2000 he published Gentlemen & Players: Gardeners of the English Landscape and then embarked upon a nationwide series of the historic gardens of England, county by county. The project delivered 14 books – volumes on Gloucestershire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Cornwall, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire. Alongside this research into England’s garden history Professor Mowl published, in 2006, the first major biography on the architect and landscape designer, William Kent. He has also written biographies of Horace Walpole and William Beckford. Tim has just completed a book entitled All around is Fairy ground – Pleasure and the Regency Garden, which includes a chapter on Jane Austen, that will be published in September 2026.
Tim will be joining our Autumn Celebrations in 2026
photo Stephen Morris
And if you would like us to curate some special additions just for you, such as extending your stay or adding added visits to other locations in the UK, please let us know, we are happy to assist.
