A few weekends ago I attended the Pride and Prejudice 200th anniversary ball at Chawton House, Hampshire (organised by the Hampshire Regency Dancers). Chawton House was owned by Jane Austen's brother Edward Austen Knight.
It was a lovely evening of dancing and fine food, but sadly the dancing was in a marquee and not the house.
The evening started with drinks in the Great Hall. A chance to admire everyone's beautiful clothes. :)
View of the drive from the Great Hall.
More gorgeous clothes
I just love Annemarie's gown. So pretty. :)
I wore my new green sari gown. Claire has a gorgeous gown made out of a sort of similar sari. :)
The empty great hall.
Another view of the Great Hall
Claire elegantly climbing the stairs to the Dining Room. :)
The Dining Room. We ate in here, but it was buffet style rather than sit down.
Claire in the Dining Room (we went on a sneaky tour of a few of the rooms when the dancing started :) ).
View, of part of the drive and the lawn, from the Dining Room
The first floor landing (It was rather dark)
The marquee where all the dancing took place.
One of the beautiful decorations in the marquee.
Real peacock feathers!! :)
So pretty. The colours are amazing!! :)
Dancing
More dancing. :)
More
Ok, so it seems I went a bit happy-snappy with the dancing. :)
It was a lovely evening. A wonderful time was had by all dancing, eating and chatting in such a beautiful setting. :)
The following day we went on a tour of the house (stupidly forgot my camera *hangs head in shame* :( ). Anyway the house is definitely worth a visit. The library has the most amazing first editions and Regency fashion plates. :)
After the tour we were meant to have a picnic on the lawn, but sadly the weather was being typically British (it was chucking it down with rain!), so Claire and I decided to go and have lunch at Cassandra's Cup (a lovely little cafe opposite Jane Austen's House). We had more of a lea or tunch (lunch and tea :) ). The lovely Helen joined us for tea. T'was a very jolly day. :)
Thank you for taking us with you through the rooms and halls of Chawton House - what a wonderful place!! It must have been a lovely event. And lunch and tea is such a wonderful idea to escape from this strange summer weather :)
ReplyDeleteSabine
Your photos are always wonderful. I love living vicariously through you. The weather here in New England isn't much better than your English weather if that makes you feel better.
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