The First Day of "The Life and Times of Jane Austen" Tour

We have had a fantastic start to our Jane Austen tour. What a wonderful group of people led by the gorgeous Helen Bertram.  We are in for an amazing tour!

Today we had a fabulous walking tour of Jane Austen's Bath.

We started in The Abbey Churchyard which is so spectacular!  Three different churches have occupied this site since 757 AD.  The present Abbey has beautiful stone carvings on the outside and many beautiful windows, some with stained glass and some with clear glass which gives you the feeling that you can look straight through the building and out the other side.

The west front has the unique stone carved ladders of angels, with angles ascending into heaven (and some falling down) .  Bath Abbey was the last great medieval cathedral to be built in England. 

Here is our group listening to the very informative and enthusiastic Jane Tapley who is telling us all about the history of Bath and Jane Austen's experiences here.  What a privilege to be here!

This is the outside of the Roman Baths which we will be visiting later in the week.

This is the inside of The Assembly Rooms where Balls were held three times a week during Jane Austen's time.  The chandeliers are spectacular.  How wonderful to be in the room where so many romances may have started!  Looking for Mr D'Arcy!?

We had a beautiful lunch in The Vault Room underneath the Theatre Royal which was opened in 1805. Here I am with the gorgeous Tanya.

We visited the Fashion Museum which houses a huge collection of antique clothing.  We had a private tour here and we were able to learn all about the different style of dressing over the past four centuries.  I have never seen original textiles from this far back and the way they are presented made them come alive.

The hand embroidery on many of the outfits was extraordinary.

The dress in the centre of this display was one of the mourning dresses worn by Queen Victoria herself.  Wow!

There were some striking men's garments too...

This is the Royal Crescent, a very impressive address in Bath.

We have just had a splendid dinner at the hotel. So much fun.  Time for bed so I can be ready for tomorrow.