I loved the Jane Austen Centre which is in Gay Street, just along from the house she lived in for a while. The centre is run by enthusiastic and well dressed guides, who give a lively account of her time in Bath. It is very small but well formed! With a shop full of all sorts of Jane Austen Memorabilia. I succumbed and bought an "I love Darcy" bag and a postcard, which gives instructions in the language of the fan!
Jane and her family moved to Bath from the country and she lived there for five years. During that time her father died and she and her family became more and more impoverished, moving down hill in social position and literally. Her books Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, written years apart, give two differing accounts of her attitude to life in Bath, which changed greatly over that time. Of course when you visit Bath, you have to be reading one of her books. I am re-reading Mansfield Park.
I would love to come back for the annual Jane Austen festival, held each September.
The Assembly Rooms were being decked out for a wedding that afternoon. It must have been a very expensive wedding. The Assembly Rooms were the place to be seen, where one went to dance, play cards, flirt, gossip and mix with those of the correct social strata. PArt has been converted to a fashion museum, which I found fascinating. One section showed the changes in dress and accessories through the nineteenth century. Another section, the fashions through the twentieth century and "dresses of the year" from the last forty years, which I can remember. There was even a rock and roll skirt, not unlike the one I have made from an old skirt from the fifties.
No comments:
Post a Comment