Had a Wonderful Bitthday at the Jane Austen Centre. As someone who has had a life-long interest in fashion, I immensely enjoyed seeing the clothing on display and having an opprtunity to try one of the regency dresses. I was amazed at how well I was able to use the quill without getting blotches onto the paper!

Such a charming visit, especially during Jane Austen 250th Birthday Celebrations! The atmosphere was lovely, with beautiful displays and a real sense of stepping into Austen’s world. Felt like I was in the movies. A must-visit for literature lovers and anyone exploring Bath.

An enjoyable visit. We booked tickets in advance which is probably a good idea - tours are on the hour and half past, so you might end up waiting around a lot. The 15 minute talk by a guide in character was fun and told us some new info about Jane Austen. The exhibits are quite small and a little dated, but there is some fun stuff for kids to do - a parlour game to try out, quills to write with teas and perfumes to sniff, and we particularly liked trying on costumes (and one of the guides will take your photo and help with costuming, which we appreciated). I enjoyed seeing some memorabilia from the 1995 Persuasion, my favourite adaptation!

My husband and I visited the centre today and we were both delighted! We bought our tickets in advance and got them checked at the shop. Then we were told to wait in a parlour upstairs for the short introduction to Austen's life and keen focus on her family. Details were also provided regarding her life in Bath and how much it influenced her writing. The tale was told by a person in roleplay - Catherine Morland from Northanger Abbey in our case (I was super happy about that as I am currently reading the novel and it was an endearing experience). I think this is extremely unique to the museum as I have never seen something quite like it. She was very passionate about the things she presented, emotive and enunciated; I felt myself genuinely immersed in the period and story. Later we had free time to enjoy the exhibit, however I do wish we had more time to fully grasp everything (we only had around 60 minutes to explore as we had booked the afternoon tea experience so I suppose this was our bad for not having good time management). The exhibit itself was fairly interesting and the focus was of course Austen's time in Bath, but there were also some pop culture details like info on the movie productions of her novels, regency attire, copies of her jewelry and writing equipment, etc. The tea experience was also note-worthy, everything was extremely fresh and I dare say the scones were the best. We had the Jane Austen blend and the Spicy Black chai, both of which were marvelous. I overall cannot recommend this place enough! I feel like the foundation has done justice to Austen's brilliance and everyone working there seemed like they genuinely enjoy it! I felt immense pride and joy having visited a place such as this.

I'm not necessary the best person to write a review. I thought it was all...fine. There's a cute little shop. The "tour" consists of a costumed person from one of Austin's books who leads you into the room in which you watch a video about Austin. Then you are lead downstairs to stroll through a relatively short walk to see a bit more. It wasn't bad at all, just a bit short on substance. I'm not a Jane Austin fan, so maybe that's colouring my review. It's fine, just have your expectations lower than otherwise.