Travellers’ tales: Our Jane Austen cycle ride

Where: Hampshire
Who: Gill & Graham Butler
When: Summer 2025

We live in Hampshire, we love Pride and Prejudice, and it’s 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen. So we decided to cycle to visit all the places in the county where she lived.

We started the trip by catching the train down to Southampton. There we visited the site of her former home in Castle Square, then the Dolphin Hotel, where she celebrated her 18th birthday.

The route up to Winchester largely followed NCN23. It was our least favourite part of the journey as it ran close to busy roads. Were we to repeat the journey, we’d look for a more scenic route. Winchester is where Jane died in 1817.

She spent her final weeks at 8 College Street, having travelled there to seek medical attention. She is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

We decided to cycle to visit all the places in the county where Jane Austen lived Gill and Graham Butler, Cycling UK members

Leaving Winchester, we followed the South Downs Way for much of the journey to Alresford, our overnight stay (no association with Austen).

First stop on day two was Chawton, Jane’s home from 1809. Her brother was adopted by a childless member of the family, and when he moved into Chawton House he offered a cottage in the village to his mother and sisters.

It was here that Jane had the opportunity to devote her time to writing, and where she revised and published Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

We then cycled to nearby Alton, a town Jane visited often. Then on to Steventon, where she was born in 1775, and finally to Overton, a town frequented by Jane. That’s on the mainline railway, so it was the end of our journey.