Chasing Jane, Chapter 3: Teaparty for One

Leaving the Tourist Centre, I decide that my first stop should be the Jane Austen Centre. Not only is it essentially the museum of Jane Austen for Bath, but it also has a tea room, and tea sounds just lovely.

Thus I begin my journey through town, following two different maps and trying to make heads or tails of a map that lists only about half the street names and streets which are only marked half the time anyway. Believe me. It gets confusing.

All is not lost, however, as I have an excellent sense of direction and after a few fits and starts I manage to find myself halfway up a hill just past Queen's Square. In front of me stands a modest townhouse of, naturally, Georgian style. On the steps a smiling young woman dressed as though she'd just stepped out of Pride and Prejudice offers me a brochure. I was fairly certain I'd landed in the right spot.

The Regency Tea Room is at the tip top floor of the Jane Austen Centre. It's a lovely room with sky blue walls, toile curtains, and windows looking over the quiet street. A small fireplace graces one wall and soft music from the Jane Austen films gives the room a sense of peacefulness and graciousness. I must say I was a bit disappointed at the china. It was plain white and entirely uninspired.

The atmosphere was lovely, however, and made up for the boring china. I decided on a cream tea, as it was a little early in the day for a full on afternoon tea. A cream tea is called so because the scones are always served with clotted cream. I was served a lovely pot of Assam tea along with milk and lumps (not cubes) of sugar. There were two scones, one plain and one fruit, with clotted cream and berry jam. The scones were gorgeous, flaky and buttery tasting. So delicious! And the clotted cream was heaven. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat another scone without clotted cream

After my tea, feeling refreshed and a little on the full side, I wander down to the museum for a tour. The tour started with a 20 minute talk by one of the guides. He took us through the time line of Jane Austen's life and writing. He talked a bit about her family, her financial circumstances, why she spent 5 years in Bath, and so on. It was very interesting and quite moving. A little sad, as well. For even though Jane Austen always gave her heroines a happily ever after, she herself never got such an ending.

After the talk we were allowed into the museum itself. Normally the museum holds historical items from the period when Jane was in Bath, as well as some personal items of her family. Her own personal items are in the Jane Austen Museum back in her hometown.

Currently, the museum is housing costumes from the Jane Austen movies. They are quite interesting to see, and there is a brief movie about the making of the costumes, but I find it dull and move on.

I then take a detour into the gift shop and purchase two lovely books. They were special collector's editions of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. These are the two Jane Austens novels that were set, at least partially, in Bath. It seems somehow fitting to purchase these novels in Bath, the place that inspired them.

The time has come to begin my tour... In The Footsteps Of Jane Austen. I step out the front door into the bright sunshine, take a deep breath of fresh air, and pull out my MP3 player. With a smile on my face, I press "play"....