For many Janeites, a visit to Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, England, is incomplete without a stop at Cassandra’s Cup, the teashop across the street from the iconic cottage where Austen wrote or revised all six of her finished novels.
Now it looks as if Cassandra’s is getting some competition, albeit a bit farther afield: Austen’s Cafe and Takeaway opened last month in Alton, the much larger town near the tiny village of Chawton, in the county of Hampshire.
Although Austen’s seems more self-consciously Janeite than Cassandra’s – the décor features Austen book covers, and the afternoon tea options include choices named “Emma” and “Darcy” – the menus of both restaurants will look pretty familiar to anyone who has eaten out recently in provincial England. It’s the usual mix of British staples (jacket potatoes, ham and cheese sandwiches) and vaguely foreign fare (paninis, eggs Benedict), all washed down with copious lashings of tea. Both restaurants even offer a cream tea (scones, jam, clotted cream) with prosecco, which really leaves one little to complain of.
Curiously, I am a Janeite who has never set foot in Cassandra’s Cup: the last time I was in Chawton, it looked crowded, and I didn’t want to spend my scarce tourist time queuing for lunch. It’s good to know that next time I’ll have two options for prosecco cream tea.
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