The Treehouse: A Visit to Chawton

While driving home from our holiday on the Isle of Wight...we called in here and spent a lovely while wandering around and had a most amusing encounter with a very realistic and funny apothecary in the kitchen! There were some lovely examples of ceramic work on display from Bristol University - one set in particular caught my eye and I wish I could have photographed it, it was a very delicate set of chinaware made to resemble crumpled up pages, the edges of the plates/dishes were gold and there was gold writing on too...such a clever idea and beautiful to look at. I also went and had a very good look at the Jane Austen quilt/coverlet which is upstairs and displayed on a tent bed. Considering the age of this quilt, the colours are really very vivid, it's in remarkable condition...and I hadn't realised that the sashing had little polka dots on it - again, no photo I'm afraid, I don't think it's allowed really - the quilt is displayed in a room without light and as you walk into the room the electric light comes on so that you can see the quilt on the bed which is behind a protective screen.

While driving down to the IofW I read another book for the Everything Austen challenge - Writing Jane Austen by Elizabeth Aston.

Here's some blurb from the back of the book...

"Critically acclaimed and award winning - but hardly bestselling - author Georgina Jackson can't get past the first chapter of her second book. When she receives and urgent email from her agent, Georgina is certain it's bad news. Shockingly, she's offered a commission to complete a newly discovered unfinished manuscript by a major nineteenth century author. Skeptical at first about her ability to complete the manuscript, Georgina is horrified to learn that the author in question is Jane Austen."

As in Jane Austen stories, there are some truly ghastly characters in this story - the editor, the publisher and his sister! Poor Georgina, she runs from pillar to post trying to escape these dreadful people and trying to escape writing the book...unfortunately, she needs to do it because she needs the money. I loved gentle Henry and his sister Maud and wonderful Anna and the quiet little romance going on in the background. I was getting a little frustrated with Georgina and wishing she would at least sit down and try to write the book instead of running around all the time, lol! I enjoyed this book - in fact, when Catherine had run out of holiday reading she took it away and read it herself and pronounced it to be 'good' and 'ok'.