TOURISTS from across the globe have journeyed to East Hampshire this year to pay homage to its famous daughter.
Petersfield’s Tourist Information Centre (TIC) staff report a “spike” in Jane Austen related interest from the 25,000 visitors who typically pass through its doors annually.
And book-lovers are making a beeline for copies of her beloved novels, including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma, at the town library.
A stand there, to promote Jane Austen 200 by the Hampshire Cultural Trust, features her books and films of her novels and those inspired by them. There is even a well-borrowed Jane Austen and the Zombies book series.
The visitors’ book at Chawton House Library, which promotes Austen and related women writers, is full of exotic locations.
“The 200th bicentenary of Jane Austen’s death has really captured imaginations across the globe. We have had visitors from every continent, many on pilgrimage to Jane Austen sites across the south of England,” said the library’s executive director Dr Gillian Dow.
“Of course, Jane Austen is a Hampshire girl,” she added. “And it’s quite right that Hampshire is making an extra effort to claim her as our own this year. But such literary genius can’t be confined. Jane Austen belongs to the world.”
Petersfield TIC?manager Graham Haynes said he had noticed more visitors from countries such as Norway and Denmark. And Americans were very interested in the area’s Austen links.
“Tourists might come here to go to Chawton where Jane Austen lived, but then they discover the area’s lovely countryside, National Trust properties and other attractions and they make a repeat visit. That is what we hope for this year’s legacy.”