Imagining Jane Austen and her mother, Mrs Cassandra Austen, in antique Regency fashion from my collection (curated by collector Fiona Baverstock).

Making jellies, Regency style!

'Fine dancing, I believe, like virtue, must be its own reward'
Emma by Jane Austen

You can now stay at Chawton 'Great' House, as Jane Austen called my childhood home, on my family's ancestral estate where great aunt Jane herself lived and wrote. Click here to read all about it: bit.ly/41ajJ6v

When you're screaming at the TV, trying to remember that we all have different interests!

"There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time." Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Jane Austen played the piano for an hour or two every day before settling down to write.

'Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb'

Painting is one of the things I like doing to clear my head of 'doses of rhubarb'.

What do you do?

This was Jane Austen's favourite place to sit and write at Chawton House, the Oak Room alcove. The alcove is above the front door and has wonderful views down the long gravel driveway and across the parklands.

My favourite writing place is in the garden, I am much more creative outside.

Jane Austen paid to publish her first novel, Sense & Sensibility (the equivalent of self-publishing in Jane's day), and earned more than traditionally published Pride & Prejudice.

Traditional publishing is often considered superior, but both offer a pathway to author success and independence.

'Ah! there's nothing like staying at home for real comfort'

I find myself agreeing with this quote from Emma more and more as the years go by.

A warm fire and some good company, and I am very comforted indeed!