Explore the Special Events Programme for Jane Austen 250

7th February 2025

Bookings are open for exclusive access to Jane Austen's school and a special events programme in Reading for Jane Austen 250 in 2025

• A rare chance to turn the clocks back to Jane Austen’s school days in Reading will be on offer from April, as a less well-known side to her story is revealed for her 250th birthday anniversary.
• Along with a chance to visit her schoolroom, a special events programme has been announced which includes a workshop where visitors can recreate the natural ink she used to write her novels.

Global celebrations marking a major milestone for one of the world’s most famous authors will centre on places associated with Austen, particularly in Hampshire and Bath. But Reading aims to bring a new perspective to the year-long celebrations – by giving fans the chance to visit a site connected to the writer that they have likely never seen before.

Austen spent 18 months at school in the Thames-side town when she, her elder sister Cassandra and cousin Jane took up residence at Reading Ladies Boarding School between the summer of 1785 and December 1786.

As well as being her home for 18 months, the author’s time there is also cited as the inspiration for Mrs Goddard’s School in Emma, her fourth published novel, and the last to be released during her lifetime.

For 2025, visitors will have the opportunity to visit the school in the dramatic setting of the former Gateway to medieval Reading Abbey. To date, the location of Jane’s school has only been open for educational workshops focusing on the Victorian period for youngsters learning about that period of history.

Bookings have now opened for the Official Abbey Quarter Tour, which start on Saturday 5 April, with every tour now featuring exclusive access to Jane Austen's school. The guided walking tours explore Reading’s Abbey Quarter, including the Hospitium where medieval pilgrims stayed and the impressive Reading Abbey Ruins. For this year, as part of the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, the tour will also highlight the town’s links with the famous author and visit the Abbey Gateway, which was once part of the school where Jane Austen studied and lived as a girl.

Costing £10 per person, the half hour tour will be staged every Saturday morning, starting at Reading Museum.

Reading Museum will also be staging a series of special events, tours and visits to the Abbey Gateway and Reading Abbey Quarter to tell the story of Jane’s connections to the town, as part of worldwide Jane Austen 250 celebrations – including ‘Jane Austen Wednesdays’ throughout May and June.

Bookings have now opened for the series of five talks and a workshop ranging from ‘A Day in the Life of a Regency Lady’ to a workshop on natural ink making, experimenting with Austen's own recipe for oak gall ink with which she penned her famous

Jane Austen Wednesdays

• Wednesday 7th May - Talk: Jane Austen and the local connection
• Wednesday 14 May - Talk: A day in the life of a regency Lady
• Wednesday 21 May - Talk: Jane Austen 250 and the New Localism
• Wednesday 4 June - Workshop: Inspired by Nature - Natural Ink Making with Oak Galls
• Wednesday 11 June - Talk: Scrambling into a little education- the story of Jane Austen’s schooldays in Reading.
• Wednesday 18 June - Talk: The Georgian Dining Experience

Book at https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/jane-austen-250-2025

Other highlights in the Reading Jane Austen programme during the year include visiting the National Trust’s Basildon Park - a location for 2005’s film of Pride & Prejudice – and a theatrical world premiere of Death Comes to Pemberley, a Jane Austen inspired show based on a PD James novel, at The Mill at Sonning, 1 May – 28 June.

More information about all the Jane Austen anniversary events in Reading can be found at www.visit-reading.com/janeausten