Pemberley, Highbury, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey... in all of Jane Austen's novels, the characters play out their romantic intrigues against these magnificent settings of English countryside estates. Now, the Hampshire estate where the author herself was born and raised, as well as penned some of her timeless novels, is on the market and can be home to an owner who dreams of living in one of Austen's idyllic milieus.
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Jane Austen was born in 1775 in Hampshire at the Steventon rectory in Hampshire where her father was chaplain. The Austens lived there until 1801 when her father retired and the family moved to Bath. At this time, Austen was 26 and had already written some of her beloved novels including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey at Steventon, though these works wouldn't be published until years later.
In 1820, Jane Austen's brother Edward Austen Knight replaced the original rectory by building another home on the Steventon parish estate, a Georgian mansion that was called Steventon House. Edward had become the legal heir of his father's wealthy relatives, Thomas and Catherine Knight, and had inherited the Steventon parish and estate from them.
The elegant house has six bedrooms and four bathrooms and is situated with spectacular views encompassing the parkland of the estate. The original rectory where Austen was born and raised had flooded and was then torn down in 1823. Upon Edward's death, the Steventon estate was sold to the Duke of Wellington in the 1850s.
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Today, the estate includes the main Grade II rated Georgian mansion (with renovated interiors and a modern kitchen), a two-bedroom Clover Cottage and a Coach House. It also features a heated swimming pool, tennis court, multiple gardens, fields, orchards and stables. Steventon House is located near the charming village of Steventon, which is about 60 miles west from London (about a 90-minute drive).
Jane Austen was never to return to live permanently at Steventon. After her time in Bath, which ended with her father's death in 1805, she lived with her mother, her sister Cassandra, her brother Francis and his wife in Southampton. In 1809 her brother Edward brought his mother and two sisters to Chawton Cottage, which was on the grounds of his larger estate, Chawton House, 12 miles from Steventon. While living at Chawton, Jane published four of her novels anonymously, with the rest being published after her death. She died in 1817 at the age of 41 from illness. Today, Chawton Cottage is a house museum of Jane Austen and can be toured.
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Her six main novels continue to be read and taught all across the world, and her perceptive and comedic insight into late 18th and early 19th century upper-class society reveals greater truths about humanity. The perfect setting to live out a Jane Austen novel, Steventon House is listed for £8.5 million (or $10.4 million) by Knight Frank.
