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On a quiet, unassuming London street is the Dickens House Museun.  Behind the Green Door:  Treasures and artifacts belonging to Charles Dickens, including the manuscript for his Pickwhick Papers. Dickens lived here for about three years, where he wrote the Picwick Papers.The white stucco home of John Keats, located in Hamstead, houses some of Keats's personal effects and papers.  Most memorable is a letter he writes to his lady love's mother asking her to send his love to Fanny and his farewells as he departs for Italy to restore his health.  He dies there in at the age of 25.

In Bath we see the Jane Austin Museum.  Jane lived here for several years with her family, unhappily and disdaining the opulent life style of the tourists who came here to take the cure in the theraputic Roman Baths.  In additon to lingering in the healthful waters, the men spent their evenings gambling away fortunes; high society visitors went to the famous Assembly Rooms to play cards, enjoy high tea, and attend balls.   Jane did little writing here, but she used her years here in Bath as the backdrop for her novels.  After her father's death, she moved with her mother and sisters to the family's farm in Chawton were she did her most prolific writing.

Jane Austin Museum

The Ancient Roman Baths

Step through this garden gate and enter the home of Jane Austin to see the family's artifacts, treasures, and Jane's handwritten manuscripts.

Here in the garden at the Austin Museum in Chawton, we lingered in a gentle rain, waiting for our bus to arrive to take us back to the hotel.  We had a long day:  a visit to Stonehenge and mechanical trouble on the road, so we rested and reflected in this beautiful English garden, which once was dedicated to farm crops that supported the Austin family.

A Special Added Attraction: The 1928 Humber Even when they were tired and weary, these students of literature were always eager to learn more about the English country side and the country folk.  Here, (behind the windshield) Thomas Carpenter, curator of the Jane Austin museum, shows off his grandfather's 1928 Humber.  Thomas began his lecture--not a part of the offical tour--by telling us the history of this antique car and showing the car's history captured in a handful of prized family photographs.  Here, he explains to the eager students, who are used to automatic transmissions, fuel injection, and electric windows, how to start up the car with the turn of a crank.

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