Harlaxton Day 3: Austen, Keats, and Stonehenge

Our first field trip day! Where do I begin? We started off the day with a two and a half-hour bus ride out to Chawton to see the Jane Austen House Museum. We saw the house she lived in from 1809 – 1817, which is the same house she wrote and published most of her major works. While in Chawton, we also visited the church that Jane Austen worshipped in. This church is also where many of her family members were buried.

After this stop, we then ventured into Winchester where we explored the Winchester Cathedral, which, fun fact, is where Jane Austen was buried. The cathedral had beautiful architecture and was complete with an abundance of burials inside the church. Those buried in the church were either great religious figures or important people throughout history. We then went on the same footpath that John Keats walked whenever he wrote the famous poem ‘To Autumn.’ 

After all of this physically taxing adventuring, we were able to sit down and relax for an hour or two while being driven to the Stonehenge, our final stop of the day. Once we arrived at Stonehenge, we were given the option to either walk twenty minutes in the heat or be driven down in a nice air-conditioned shuttle. I was with a group of friends, and reluctantly walked the path. While I have to admit that the scenery was stunning, my legs didn’t care as they ached the whole journey, as serene and beautiful as it was. Stonehenge itself was blocked off with rope, so my lifelong dreams of running through it were absolutely crushed. In all seriousness, the stones were absolutely breathtaking and incredibly crowded. It’s so mind-boggling to think about the creation of the Stonehenge, that a few of my peers are convinced that it is the work of aliens. I commemorated the lively day with a new English Heritage themed Monopoly for my Monopoly collection. We all then rushed back onto the bus to begin our long journey back to our residence hall.

Jocelyn