Hartington is a quaint, tiny English country village. There is an impressive church in the center, a

Having loved Pride and Prejudice since the impressionable age of 14, I have long been inspired to go on a Self-Guided Jane Austen Tour of England. I ve been back from my European study abroad adventure for a year now. Though I slacked off in my travel writing pretty much after the first month, I ve since recuperated, started a new job, and settled into the next phase of my life. Before I forget too much of what I experienced, I want to share my glorious Jane Austen inspired trip to England on my way home from Italy to the United States. I took ten days of freedom between my final final exam and NU graduation to explore the country where my favorite author lived and drew inspiration. Here s how I did it, and I hope it makes it easier for you to do the same.
I arrived in London from Italy via budget airline into Luton. (Maybe I ll save my rant about budget airlines for another post.) Since I was staying with some wonderful friends in the city, I had to take a bus from the airport to Victoria Station and then the Underground (The Tube!) to their home just off the Piccadilly line. The bus tickets were right at the airport, and it was a pretty quick bus ride. Once I got to Victoria Station and found a working ticket machine, getting a pass was pretty simple.
I spent a couple of days in London with my former neighbors who had moved to England a few years before. They took me around to see the touristy sites including the Tower of London and Hyde Park. London s extensive parks make city life seem less daunting in a way; there are parks scattered discount miami hotel everywhere, and they are beautifully kept, giving you the feeling that you are enjoying the great outdoors in the middle of a metropolis. The only Jane-related thing I really did in London was visit her writing desk at the British Library. It s free to go in, and the library has a mis-mashed collection of all sorts of British things from early religious books to headphones blaring the Beatles.
Jane Austen discount miami hotel spent many years in Bath, though they hardly represented the brightest time in her life. When her father passed away, she, her mother, and her beloved sister move to Bath to economize. Jane hated it there and the time represented some of the saddest years of her life. She loved walking outdoors, and Bath was a city. It was a place of style and entertainment, as symbolized by the great assembly halls that are still open to today. Imagining Jane Austen at these assemblies reminds me of how Pride and Prejudice s Mary Bennet feels about attending a dance. Austen s first novel Northanger Abbey was happily based in Bath, and in her final novel, Persuasion , the  Elliot family moves there (also to economize), while heroine Anne dreads the prospect of living there, a plot choice no doubt influenced by Jane s own dreary experience.
Getting to Bath is relatively easy from London. I simply took the tube to Victoria Station and a national express bus to the Bath bus/train discount miami hotel station. discount miami hotel The ride was £14 ($22) and about 3 and half hours long. The train station in Bath is basically downtown, so I was able to walk to the hostel I booked.
My first stop was the Jane Austen Centre . They pay tribute to the great author, though they are very honest about the fact that Jane was not particularly prolific in this city. They expound upon her darker days in Bath in addition to covering the story of her life. The small museum, a few numbers down from the actual residence where Jane lived for some of her time in Bath, was a treasure. The expereince started with a live presentation of her family history and background, and after talking about her life, the young lady dressed in Regency-era attire, led the group to the walk through museum with artifacts, a short movie, and facts about Jane and the time period in which she lived. There were even treats at the exit.
But the expereince did not stop there. After the museum portion, I went upstairs to the tearoom where they serve a delightful menu of foods and teas that truly transport you to the setting of any of Austen s books. The tearoom was absolutely beautiful, complete with flowers, elegant place settings, and a portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy hanging over the mantle. Perfection? I think so. I ordered Lady Catherine s Proper Cream Tea- two scones with sweet cream and jams and a small pot of the most English English tea I ve ever had.
After trying to eat my delicious scones in the most proper and dignified manner (not an easy feat considering their deliciousness and tendency to crumble discount miami hotel easily), I walked up the street into the Circus, a roundabout of stylish homes, a nd then on to the famous Bath Assembly Rooms . For a paltry £2 ($3.25), I was able to tour the three main rooms on my own. Though not as informative as a museum, the rooms appeared well-preserved from the Regency era, and the information from the Jane Austen Centre filled in whatever information gaps I would have otherwise found. I could simply sit back and imagine myself or a young Jane Austen wondering these rooms, dancing, and taking in the general splendor. As there were only three rooms, my visit did not take very long, but it was well worth the time spent. The Assembly Rooms also have a fashion museum with varying exhibits for an additional £7.50.
That was pretty much the extent discount miami hotel of my Jane Austen specific experience discount miami hotel in Bath, but I took some time to wander around the city as my beloved author might have two hundred years ago. I walked through the streets, popping into the interesting shops. In front of the abbey there is the most delicious fudge shop, and sometime in the early evening a man came out of the pasty shop in front of the Bath Abbey and started ringing a bell for £1 pastys. I got two of the delicious flaky pastry-shelled meat pouches. If I could only have one thing when I m stuck on a desert island, it would be one of those pastys. I walked a loop around the river Avon, crossing the Pulteney Bridge , one of the few historic bridges originally designed with shops along it (the other two being the Ponte Vecchio  in Florence and the Ponte di Rialto in Venice, both of which I had been fortunate enough to have just seen). As I walked down along the river, I was channeling my inner Jane or her spirit in Bath and I just felt so content with my journey, and excited that this was only the first stop.
In the evening, discount miami hotel I was feeling quite bored, so I decided to take a walking tour called Bizarre Bath . For a student price of £5 ($8), or £8 ($13) if you re all grown up, the 90 minute comedy discount miami hotel tour takes you through the streets of Bath to simply entertain you. If you re looking for real history, look elsewhere, but if you want a fun night that will actually make you laugh, this is the place to be. It was well worth the time and money, plus the spirited guide pointed out some places of interest I was able to visit the next day.
For anyone who has read Pride and Prejudice (and if you haven t, why the hell are you reading this blog entry? GO DO IT ALREADY ), you know that the story starts to get really romantic really discount miami hotel fast when Elizabeth falls in love with the Peak District , runs into Mr. Darcy at his estate Pemberley, and then begins to really fall in love with Darcy. discount miami hotel Well I also went to the Peak to take in the striking wilderness, go to Pemberley, and fall in love with Mr. Darcy. I ll settle for the two out of three, especially since I already had my own Mr. Darcy waiting discount miami hotel for me to come home.
I took a 4 hour train from Bath to Manchester for £39 ($63). I had found a hostel a quick walk from the station in Manchester and met up with some travel friends I had met in Krakow over a year ago. We went to a bar and they gave me some great history about the Peak and sights to see there.
discount miami hotel In the morning, I took a local train that ran at 52 past the hour, every hour, to Buxton. From Buxton, I took local bus 442 to the tiny town of Hartington smack-dab in the middle of some of the best walking trails in the Peak. I stayed at a YHA Hostel in Hartington for four nights. The hostel is in this small manor-like stone building, and it was quite elegant inside. For the price at checkout, I feel like I robbed them blind. I paid something close to £80 ($130) for four nights in a 5 person dorm (but I was the only occupant so it turned out to be a private room), 3 classic English dinners (delicious shepard s pie, a lamb stew, and something else wonderful I can t remember), and 3 full (none of this continental stuff) breakfasts with sausage and eggs and pancakes and the works. discount miami hotel They had an elegant library with books and board games for the adults, and a smaller sitting room with internet for the younger discount miami hotel sort. The rooms in the main house are beautiful and then there are also rooms I did not explore off the back for larger groups. Hartington discount miami hotel is perfectly situated for accessing some of the most famous hikes through the Peak District.
Hartington is a quaint, tiny English country village. discount miami hotel There is an impressive church discount miami hotel in the center, a couple of places to stay, a ceramics studio, a cheese shop (possibly my favorite store in all of England), a convenience store, and a bar. There are also quite a few parking spots right in the middle discount miami hotel of town because this particular place is an excellent starting spot for many different hikes around the Peak. The day I arrived in Hartington, it was pouring discount miami hotel rain. I walked into the hostel completely drenched from a 5 minute walk from the bus stop around the corner, discount miami hotel and I had some tea in the dining room until check in. I mostly stayed around the hostel that day avoiding the rain, but in the evening the downpour ceased, and I decided to venture outside. The hostel had free maps of local walking trails, so I decided to take a short loop around the countryside. Despite my poor-suited footwear for the muddy, discount miami hotel hilly farmland, discount miami hotel I had an amazing hike through farmland and woods. What is fascinating about the Peak District is that it is really a national park, and people discount miami hotel are free to walk anywhere. Farm