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| Blog writing with pen and ink, no autocorrect available. |
Part II: Becoming Jane, Beyond Bath
Last month, our journey to "Becoming Jane" (our favorite author, Miss Austen) began, as noted in "Becoming Jane, Part I", with three days in Bath, England, staying in the Austen home, taking tea where Jane did and even meeting her up-close and personal at her eponymous museum on Gay Street.
We didn't realize at the time, however, that once we left Bath our Jane Austen adventure wasn't quite at its conclusion. We still had some Regency-style travel ahead and, while we were becoming Jane, we had a serendipitous encounter with someone who was "being Mr. Wickham".
After we left the yellow buttercream glow of the multitude of townhomes and shops in Bath, we traveled north to Derbyshire. Here, we stayed a few nights at a lovely country home with a working sheep farm. The walk to the village (and dinner) was a little over a mile. Not typically a distance that would break a sweat, however, as alluded to in Part I, the trail through the estate was a small footpath with several paddock gates to climb over. We came upon a few random wooly friends as well as a dozen muddy puddles, all made more challenging after sunset.
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| Country estate in Derbyshire, residents are less judgy than the Bingley sisters. |
These outdoor treks were favored by Jane, and, in turn, by many of her literary ladies. So, we lit a "candle" (our iPhone flashlight) and neither cursed the darkness nor our obstacle course in the country.
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| Path to town filled with muddy puddles. . . |
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| and wooly friends. |
The hems of my garments were as dirty as Lizzy Bennet's stockings upon her three mile walk to Netherfield, but, upon our return to our country home, our hosts, unlike the Bingley sisters, did not hold contempt for anyone in our party. While my soiled attire was unbecoming, it was all part of becoming Jane.
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| Narrow path, in parts, bordered by stone walls. . . |
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| made more challenging at night! |
I was now more "Jane" than "Jeanne" than ever before.
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| Hems of my attire a muddy mess, but not met with contempt by our hosts |
Believing now, we had surely come to the end of our time in "Austen-land", a bit of our treasured "serendipi-tea" unfolded, giving us one more Austen nugget. At our pentultimate UK stop, before our grande finale in London, we stayed at one last charming inn in Yorkshire. Before heading down to the breakfast portion of our B & B, I turned on the television in our room to see a familiar face chatting with great ease and amusement on a British morning show. It was Mr. Wickham!
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| Mr. Wickham on BBC morning show |
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| Older, but still, the face of the P & P cad |
Full disclosure, it was, Adrian Lukis, the actor who played George Wickham in the 1995 BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice". And, while he had, of course, aged a bit, he was still undeniably, the same scoundrel who ran off with young and "silly" Lydia.
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| Mr. Wickham gives a better first impression to Lizzy Bennet |
Remarkably, Mr. Lukis is still making a career out of being Mr. Wickham. He co-wrote and stars in "Being Wickham", an hour-long epilogue of the Pride and Prejudice cad, which includes what became of his young bride. It took me a trip to England, sadly, to find out that this comedy/drama already performed in New York this past June. (If it comes to NY again, I hope my inner Jane can attend!).
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| There's still more to the story, as told in "Being Wickham". |
Alas, like being Wickham, becoming Jane was only temporary. I am once again, Barbara Jeanne. But, when the clock struck midnight, I came home from the Jane Austen ball with more in my reticule than when I left. I'm grateful for the opportunity to dip back into the Regency period, feel a deeper connection to Jane Austen, and a very much renewed appreciation for modern sensibilities where a woman can proudly put her name to her books and, on a damp, dark evening, find comfort in a modern day iPhone lantern.
For more on Barb's Tea Service tea talks and other events, see: Barb's Tea Service (barbsteaservice.com)
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