Beautiful manuscript copy of Jane Austen.

Who's excited that Red Planet Pictures and ITV are adapting #Sanditon? We have this beautiful manuscript copy of Jane Austen's unfinished novel in our collection, handwritten by Jane's sister Cassandra. Read more on the production here: https://bit.ly/2LaK5eB facebook.JaneAustensHouseMuseum/<

Miss Austen placed her most important, if cryptic, advice on writing in the titles of her works..

Miss Austen placed her most important, if cryptic, advice on writing in the titles of her works. Less helpfully, she left it up to us to decide what to do next. Here are some truths, universally acknowledged or not. chronicle/jane-austens-guide-to-writing

Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon to be adapted by ITV .

Jane Austen’s unfinished novel Sanditon is being adapted into an ITV series by Pride and Prejudice screenwriter Andrew Davies.

The final incomplete novel about a young woman, Charlotte Heywood, who moves to the sleepy seaside village of Sanditon and meets a man who is trying to turn it into a fashionable resort, was written only months before Austen died in 1817, and has never been adapted before.

Davies said the adaptation was a “privilege and a thrill” and will feature “a spirited young heroine, a couple of entrepreneurial brothers, some dodgy financial dealings, a West Indian heiress and quite a bit of nude bathing”.

When Austen died in July 1817, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were still to be published. But after her death, Sanditon surfaced. It has been described in the Guardian as being “notable for its unprecedentedly forthright reatment of sexuality”.

Polly Hill, head of drama at ITV, said: “There is no one better to adapt her unfinished novel than Andrew … it’s a rich, romantic, family saga built upon the foundations Jane Austen laid.”

Davies, who has previously worked on adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace and the forthcoming Les Misérables, said: “Jane Austen managed to write only a fragment of her last novel before she died – but what a fragment.” Austen completed 11 chapters of Sandition before her death.

Filming is expected to begin in spring 2019. theguardian

The garden of Chawton estate.

‘Edward is very well and enjoys himself as well as any Hampshire born Austen can desire. – He talks of making a new Garden…’

Jane Austen, 1813

Jane Austen was a frequent visitor to the estate, and some believe Mr Knightley’s Donwell Abbey in Austen’s Emma was modelled upon Chawton House.

The grounds have been restored to the English Landscape style popularised by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in the late eighteenth century, with an informal lawn and open views across the estate, including a ‘ha-ha’ (a ditch that is invisible from the distance to keep grazing animals back from the house without spoiling the view).

The south lawn leads to a lime avenue that provides distant views into the parkland beyond, as well as a ‘wilderness’ (a wooded area that appears natural while in fact being planted and tended, a feature that dates back to the seventeenth century).

The gardens feature two terraces both of which were built by Montagu Knight in the early 1900s and b

At the highest point of the grounds is the Walled Garden, built by Edward Austen, and referred to in Jane Austen’s letters (though sadly, she died before its completion). The newest addition within the Walled Garden is the Elizabeth Blackwell Herb Garden, inspired by Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737-9), a guide to different plants and their uses in medicine. This remarkable work includes Blackwell’s detailed engravings, which she individually hand-coloured. The proceeds from this endeavour secured her husband’s release from debtor’s prison.

The gardens also feature a Fernery and a Shrubbery – the latter was typically where the ladies of the house would take their exercise in Jane Austen’s time.

‘One likes to get out into a shrubbery in fine weather.’

Mrs Bertram in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, 1814

chawtonhouse