Day 16: Nelson and Austen

RANDOMOSITIES

It's my first-born's 28th birthday today . . . his first birthday that I've missed. Frowny face.

My cartoon bubble of the Chunnel was just a big ol' tunnel you drive through. Not so. Apparently you drive onto a train, and the train takes all the cars through the tunnel.

Drove through the New Forest . . . new as in it was established with William the Conquerer.

Got stopped on road--by a roaming band of donkeys. Okay, so they weren't really roaming. They were completely stopped, and urging them with the horn didn't help.

Naval ships of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were absolute beasts.

Not going to lie--it really was a time warp to walk the halls of Jane Austen's home.

TIMELINE

7:30-9:30 Map out our London visit complete with which tubes & stops to take for our upcoming weekend, plus drink some very good coffee at our friends' home.

9:30-11:30 Drive south down to the coast near Brockenhurst.

Noon-2:00 Tour the Buckler's Hard Maritime Museum.

2:30 Leave for Chawton, Jane Austen's home.

4:30 After touring Jane's home, take tea at a sweet little cafe across the street from her house.

6:30 Find our authentic old inn in Old Windsor and have a fantastic pub dinner.

THOUGHTS

Buckler's Hard sounds like a goofy-butt made-up name to me . . . until I learned the meaning. A hard is a formation of land that makes a natural landing for a ship. Buckler was the name of a local family. Put them together and Buckler's Hard was a shipbuilding area, but not just any shipbuilding area. The place where Admiral Lord Nelson's ships were built, those that kept Napoleon from invading England. Pretty impressive.

The museum itself is a bit overwhelming with poster upon poster of hundreds of years of history. There are also a few recreated rooms to visit as well. But what really brought this visit to life was a historical re-enactor, who played the role of one of the ship builders. This guy was a wealth of information, pacing out how large the ships would've been on the grassy area. He recommended further reading (I bought Billy Ruffian by David Cordingly) and told tales from the late 1700's all the way up to WWII. My advice if you're visiting this site is to seek out the costumed volunteer and get a free education.

We drove back through the "New" Forest up to Chawton. Just the mention of that town usually gives Austenites a thrill. It's a cute little town, but what really inspired me was seeing Jane Austen's writing table. It was small, about 3' round, with a simple quill pen, bottle of ink, and plain wooden chair. That's where she penned Mansfield Park and Emma and edited Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility. What author wouldn't be in awe of seeing that?

There were many artifacts from the Austen family plus period costumes that BBC actors/actresses have worn in productions. There were dress up clothes to transform yourself and a little craft in the kitchen area where you could make your own lavender sachet. The site closes relatively early (4:30) so I wasn't able to really peruse the gift store at the end, but that's okay since I bought a new Austenesque book in Bath. Jo Baker's Longbourne, which is the retelling of Pride & Prejudice from the servants POV.