Places 5/17

The Line of Thought

. . . to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream.

--Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Better luck this time?

Nearly five years ago, a Canadian lawyer named Tara Rout floated the notion of buying Luckington Court, the UK mansion that played...

Deborah Yaffe

Jan 2, 2023

At your service

When you shell out $250 to $450 for a night in a university town’s boutique hotel, what amenities do you expect to get for your money?...

Deborah Yaffe

Dec 8, 2022

Sale in Aisle A

Attention, bargain hunters! Five years ago, you would have needed £9 million (about $11 million) to buy Luckington Court, the Cotswolds...

Deborah Yaffe

Aug 15, 2022

Putting down roots

One hundred and twenty-five years ago, as Britain’s Queen Victoria marked a milestone sixty years on the throne, the proprietors of...

Deborah Yaffe

Jun 16, 2022

Many happy returns

The return of spring brings many pleasures. Flowers! Baby birds! And, of course, a new Jane Austen bobblehead! Back in 2020, the North...

Deborah Yaffe

May 23, 2022

Under the floorboards

When I was a little girl, my favorite toy was my dollhouse. I liked setting up tiny roomscapes filled with detailed, perfectly manageable...

Deborah Yaffe

Apr 28, 2022

Eunice the Menace

Last month, a storm named Eunice ravaged large swathes of Europe. In the UK, which was hit especially hard, three people were killed,...

Deborah Yaffe

Mar 10, 2022

Vows

It’s a hopeless task -- the effort to convince casual fans that Jane Austen isn’t really the patron saint of weddings. No matter how...

Deborah Yaffe

Jan 17, 2022

Another mansion for sale

Once again, it’s time for every Janeite’s favorite sport: eying up palatial real estate with tangential Jane Austen associations. Today’s...

Deborah Yaffe

Nov 18, 2021

Selling Scarlets, again

We Janeites would kill to live in an Austen-linked stately home. That goes without saying. But – is it possible that such properties are...

Deborah Yaffe

Oct 25, 2021

Listening in on Chawton House

Last summer, the pandemic programmers of Chawton House, the Elizabethan manor once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward, revived the...

Deborah Yaffe

Oct 14, 2021

Not In Jane's Backyard

Between her father’s death in January 1805 and her move into Chawton cottage in July 1809, Jane Austen was . . . not homeless, certainly,...

Deborah Yaffe

Oct 4, 2021