We left early this morning to head south towards Shakespeare Country. I will spare you the details of driving in the rain on the motorway at 80mph one minute and then stopped bumper to bumper the next! I will only say that we were happy to arrive at Stoneleigh Abby alive, safe and without the rain! We arrived in time for a tour of the house, thanks to Daughter 1’s research. Stoneleigh was the home of Jane Austen’s uncle on her mother’s side. When Jane and her mother were visiting her uncle at his parish (he was a parson), the owner of Stoneleigh died with no heirs. With three possible heirs in a different branch of the
family, Jane’s uncle (being a potential heir) rushed to Stoneleigh to take possession, bringing Jane and her mother with him. We toured rooms where Jane Austen slept, hung out and ate breakfast everyday. It is said that she drew inspiration from her experience at Stoneleigh to include in her books, most prominently Mansfield Park. This house just reopened to the public in 2003 after a 5 year restoration. It is a great example of how a house suffers when the families’ wealth decreases due to inheritance taxes and no trusts are established to preserve the house. When the last Lord Leigh died he had not done any financial planning so his exquisite possessions were sold from the house to pay for inheritance taxes. So now the house is practically bare. The English Heritage Society is now a partial owner, trying to buy back original furniture from Stoneleigh when it goes on auction at Christie’s. There was a fire at Stoneleigh around 1980 and in order to raise enough money to restore the house they had to convert some of the rooms into flats and a portion of the old Abby into houses. What a crying shame! We left and headed to Kenilworth – where we were told we could get internet service and a laundromat! They were right! We threw the afternoon plans out the window just so we could get so
me clean clothes! So later we drove by Kenilworth Castle for a picture, found our way to Warwick, didn’t go to the castle but went to Lord Leycester Hospital, where they filmed exterior shots for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. With three maps in hand, we laughed the whole way through the countryside as we got lost, made wrong turns, drove through a flood (with the help of a fine gentleman driving by) and finally made our way to the next B&B, Tudor Rose Cottage. We are staying in an old Tudor cottage in a little village ten minutes from Stratford-Upon-Avon. We walked through the village to the local pub for dinner. The village is a mixture of old Tudor houses, old stone houses and a few rebuilt houses trying to look old. Tomorrow will be our first complete non-Jane Austen day. Don’t tell Daughter 1, but I am ready for a break!
family, Jane’s uncle (being a potential heir) rushed to Stoneleigh to take possession, bringing Jane and her mother with him. We toured rooms where Jane Austen slept, hung out and ate breakfast everyday. It is said that she drew inspiration from her experience at Stoneleigh to include in her books, most prominently Mansfield Park. This house just reopened to the public in 2003 after a 5 year restoration. It is a great example of how a house suffers when the families’ wealth decreases due to inheritance taxes and no trusts are established to preserve the house. When the last Lord Leigh died he had not done any financial planning so his exquisite possessions were sold from the house to pay for inheritance taxes. So now the house is practically bare. The English Heritage Society is now a partial owner, trying to buy back original furniture from Stoneleigh when it goes on auction at Christie’s. There was a fire at Stoneleigh around 1980 and in order to raise enough money to restore the house they had to convert some of the rooms into flats and a portion of the old Abby into houses. What a crying shame! We left and headed to Kenilworth – where we were told we could get internet service and a laundromat! They were right! We threw the afternoon plans out the window just so we could get so
me clean clothes! So later we drove by Kenilworth Castle for a picture, found our way to Warwick, didn’t go to the castle but went to Lord Leycester Hospital, where they filmed exterior shots for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. With three maps in hand, we laughed the whole way through the countryside as we got lost, made wrong turns, drove through a flood (with the help of a fine gentleman driving by) and finally made our way to the next B&B, Tudor Rose Cottage. We are staying in an old Tudor cottage in a little village ten minutes from Stratford-Upon-Avon. We walked through the village to the local pub for dinner. The village is a mixture of old Tudor houses, old stone houses and a few rebuilt houses trying to look old. Tomorrow will be our first complete non-Jane Austen day. Don’t tell Daughter 1, but I am ready for a break!
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