A Guide to Jane Austen's English Countryside

Austen's character Emma Woodhouse cried all the way home from her outing to Box Hill, but your trip will undoubtably be more pleasant. A great day-trip from London, it's the perfect spot for a nature walk followed by a leisurely picnic lunch.

A must-see for fans of the Pride and Prejudice author, the Jane Austen House Museum is the only one of her residences that is open to the public today.

Take a tour of the modest cottage to see where Austen lived and wrote during the last eight years of her life, then explore the garden, which has been reconstructed with a range of plants common during the author's lifetime.

Not only did Jane Austen live in Bath for several years, but she also used the popular resort town as inspiration for two of her novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.

Imagine how Austen and her family spent their days at the One Royal Crescent Museum, which illustrates what life was like in Bath during the late 18th century.

Since the fictional Pemberly is unavailable to serve as your accomodations, Gravetye Manor will suit just fine. The historic home-turned-boutique hotel has just 17 rooms, and offers modern amenities like an on-site spa, as well as horseback rides through Ashdown Forest, which is also known as the home of Winnie the Pooh.

Just when you think Pride and Prejudice can't be reworked again, Hollywood finds yet another way to reinvent the wheel. However, the best adaptation of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's love story is without question the 1995 BBC version. In the mini-series, Lacock Village stands in for Meryton.

Harry Potter fans will also be interested in the town; several scenes in the earlier movies were filmed in the area.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon and grew up in the village. It's where she reportedly wrote early drafts of her novels Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility.

While there, be sure to visit St Nicholas Church, where her father served as rector. Austen herself is memorialized in Winchester Cathedral, but several of her family members were buried in the graveyard at the parish.

Once owned by Jane Austen's brother, the Chawton House Library celebrates the history and impact of early women writers like Jane, but also Eliza Haywood, Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and many others. Explore the exhibits, stop by for lunch in the cafe, or plan a trip around one of their popular embroidery workshops.

Jane Austen is immortalized with a plaque in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, but she was buried at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. Pay your respects at her simple gravestone, which makes makes no mention of her career as an author.