The Jane Austen Centre

This house is located just a 10 minute walk outside of Bath. The cost was 12 euros, which was way to much for the amount of things to see. If you are a Jane Austen fan, you would probably like it, but there were only a few rooms, a few pictures, and some memorability to see. I was a little disappointed at the price vs. the tour. Glad to check that off my bucket list because I won’t be back.

I see that Unilocal has categorized this experience as an «Art Gallery» which is kind of odd because I saw no art today. The Jane Austen Centre is part museum and part biographic theatre – that is, the life of Jane Austen and her family is the focus of the presentation. My family is nuts for all things Jane Austen, and this was our first visit to Bath (we are American), so this activity was both informative and enjoyable for us. But understand plainly, this is not an impressive museum exhibit nor is it an exhaustive theatrical portrayal of Austen’s life. But it WAS worth our time and money… and anything you choose to do in Bath will be incredible.

The tour is comprised of a speech regarding Austen’s life which was fine, poorly printed and framed photos of possible portraits of Jane Austen, things that possibly resemble stuff from Jane Austen’s time period, costumes to dress up in, photos from Austen inspired movies, and a short video. Not worth the steep price for admission. No actual artifacts of Jane Austen, not the house she lived in, and really nothing of interest here whatsoever. You could easily find more information online and save your money. There are better things to do in Bath.

This place is okay if you just like Jane Austen and her works and are not a Jane Austen scholar. I’m definitely more of a casual fan and so found the tour informative. We had a couple of people in our group who were true fans and, according to them, all of the information given in the videos can be easily found online. Oh well, I thankfully didn’t visit Wikipedia before coming here so it was all new to me. Plus the girl giving the tour was on point, very nice, and of course had that sweet British accent you can’t get from Wiki
The highlight for us was the costume room. We’re a goofy group and had way too much fun cosplaying! Thankfully no one was directly behind us because we kind of hogged the costumes for a chunk of time! The ink pens were annoying, but cool (could never write a novel with those things!). The gift shop is well stocked and not too expensive– get yourself a tote bag and some books!
It’s a small museum– very small. Honestly, the stairwell that takes you upstairs to to the main ticketing area can get wicked cramp, especially if a large group is going down to the museum. We must have gone on a busy day because there was a log jam with about a dozen people coming down from the Tea Room, a group heading down to the museum, and our group coming up the stairs to buy tickets.
There’s nothing really fancy here, no original manuscripts or really any items that actually belong to Austen. It’s more of a view into her life in Bath, how people dressed and behaved in those days, and some basic information about her life.
It was fun for me because I was with some fun people, but not sure if it was worth the 7 pounds (hooray for student discounts-​even if I am a student from the US!). It’s not worth going more than once, but it’s a cool place to check out while in Bath.

Kind of funny that Austen didn’t think too highly of Bath in the end, yet this museum is located here. Probably more like a 3 for the amount of information available, but it was an enjoyable enough visit and I’m feeling generous.
Definitely plays on the popularity of the 1995 BBC series, with the Mr. Darcy painting from Pemberley in the gift shop and Adrian Lukis narrating a short film.
There is a tea room but we did not partake. (I wasn’t sure how my husband would feel about trying afternoon tea for the first time in a place where staff dressed up in costume, haha — nor how I would feel, come to think of it – so I booked that at a regular hotel in London instead.) There were biscuits in the regular museum that you could try, though.
Your willingness to indulge in and enjoy the goofier, for-​fun things here will probably make or break your experience. These goofier things include dressing up in costumes (they’ll take a photo for you); writing with ink and quill; and a new wax statue interpretation of what Jane Austen may have looked like (apparently, the entire family took exception to her sister Cassandra’s portrait of Jane, claiming that it looked matronly, severe, and generally nothing like her, so an FBI forensic artist drew a sketch based on shared /​familial characteristics and written descriptions). Probably more a place for fans or for someone who is really chill and down for these things than for someone really wanting to learn more than is already commonly known. Probably will not inspire someone who didn’t particularly care for Austen to begin with to care now, either.

Hm. Well, I was about to write a very happy review when I read something to the right of my text box that says, «Definitely screams tourist trap»… Which made me think for a moment.
I thought, «Well, that doesn’t sound good. Tourists are crappy.»
And then I thought, «…Actually, wait a minute. I was a tourist.»
And THEN I thought, «Eff it. No one gets to tell me whether or not I enjoyed something.»
I admit, I’m not a Georgian era historian. I also admit that I’m not a Jane Austen expert. The extent of my knowledge on these two subjects comes almost exclusively from Jane Austen’s novels, various BBC period dramas, and a single page in my 11^th grade history text book. Which, to be fair, couldn’t have been very comprehensive. Does that make me stupid? No. It makes me uninformed. Does THAT make me stupid? Also no.
You want to know what you get when you go here? I’ll tell you. You get to tour a very old house that looks suspiciously similar to a house that Austen once lived in. You get a short presentation about her life, possibly by the same very charming young lady that gave the presentation to us, possibly not… And then you get to go down to a basement where you’ll see some reproduction Georgian clothing. Then you get to wear a costume and take a picture. If my memory serves me correctly, my husband and I were the only ones who chose to partake in the costume/​photo portion of the tour, though… Which, I think, goes to show just how boring some people really are. What’s the point of being an adult if you can’t travel to England on your honeymoon to put on a bonnet and top hat and take a picture in front of an afternoon tea backdrop for posterity? There’s no point. NO POINT. You might as well turn in your adult card and call it a day.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that this place is very cute. Like most things in life, you’ll get out of it what you put in to it. I had fun here, and I’m now the proud owner of some mighty nice memories because of this museum.
Also, there’s afternoon tea on the upper level. Success!

Didn’t have the time to buy the tour but did really enjoy the Tea Room. Great treats and tea. Reasonable with the little discount we got and definitely tasty. Nice service. Good gift shop but a bit expensive.

I was looking forward to visiting this place when we decided to spend a weekend in Bath. Being a fan of Jane Austen I was interested to see what the centre had to offer and what I could learn about her and her work.
It’s a pretty small museum, very pleasant, but nothing that new in particular for you to see. The thing that did make it a little bit awkward was the fact that Austen had not really liked Bath herself, so a lot of it was dancing around the fact that she didn’t think Bath was that great.

I didn’t actually go to the Centre nor on the walking tour they offer, but I wanted to let everyone know that the City of Bath has a free audioguide that you can d/​l, along with info on ‘Jane Austen’s Bath’ or ‘filming locations’ since those seem to be the highlights of what the Centre’s walking tour has to offer anyway.
Of course, I don’t want to take away their business, and this is simply legit info that’s provided by their city, but by all means take the tour if you’re a hardcore Austenite.
free audiogude:
Jane Austen specific portion:
Bath filming locations map:
just in case anyone takes issue, the centre already has 3-​stars, so I’m not detracting from their ratings.

The Jane Austen Centre, like other reviewers have mentioned, is nothing to write home about. They give an informative «lecture» before the tour, which is informative, but quite dull, and most Austen-​ites probably already have a pretty good idea about Ms. Jane’s historical past.
Then we approach the museum/​tour portion. While I found some dresses and fashion tips of that era fascinating, I found myself just speeding through it. It just didn’t hold a lot of interest for me. I have heard the walking tour is a lot more memorable and interesting. Maybe that’s the route I’ll go next time!
For anyone interested I say (and it does kill me to say this) but just skip paying the entry fees and purchase something in the gift shop. Maybe even go into the tea shop and have some scones and tea, instead! Or make the entry fees really, really cheap (like £2).

This tour wasn’t exactly what I had expected. Our tour guide was funny and very informative however, she did get into the architects who built the town and some other boring history about the town itself. I did appreciate it don’t get me wrong, I just imagined it’d be about Jane Austen and her stays and it was but Austen didn’t stay here for long she came to Bath on like two holidays I believe. She did take us to the crescent and my gf who came here by herself one time had a hard time getting the correct directions to the crescent which she forgot the name and no one understood what she was describing lol. Nevertheless, our tour guide took us here and other places, where the movies were filmed and where Austen stayed. The number 13 building where Austen stayed was under construction so that was a bit bummer. In the end, I would recommend this tour because you see Bath and learn information about it some you may or may not care about, but little things that are interesting. The tour is supposed to be 2 hours but ahe went longer if we wanted to continue. We of course did and I loved that!

I have to admit that the best part of the Jane Austen Centre is the tea room upstairs and the shop inside the centre itself. The exhibit itself was a little bit of a let down. I had read some reviews to this effect so I was prepared. But this location is great — in a historic Georgian townhouse and, like I said, win win with the shop on the ground floor. I loved that everyone was dressed in simple Georgian fashion. Everyone was pretty helpful too and didn’t seem to dislike their job. As a devout Austen fan this was a must-​do for me in Bath, but the tour that the Centre provides was my main enjoyment.

skip the centre and go for the walking tour instead. the walking tour starts in the center of town by the abbey and the roman baths. you get your tickets at the KC changer, and they are 6 GBP. the walk takes about 1.5 to 2 hours, and you go all over town. our guide told us all the significant places in town, along w/​how jane austen saw them in her day. 2 of her books took place in bath, so you see all the places that are mentioned in the books (northanger abbey and persuasion). this is a nice walk that lets you get your bearings, and then you can decide where to see in more detail afterwards.

The other reviewers are right on about the somewhat hokey nature of the Jane Austen Centre, but I’d like to add a mention about the tea shop. It’s fair, and tourists will have fun here knowing they are doing a touristy thing (my husband and I did). But don’t hope for authenticity.
Also, the gift shop is perfect for bringing home a souvenir to your Austen-​obsessed sister.

Surprised at the harsh reviews here. £6 is not a lot to pay to gain admission to a charming centre run by dedicated and interested staff.
Compact and crammed with facts, costumes and artefacts, both those who enjoy Jane Austen’s work and those unfamiliar with it will find this a little gem.
There’s also an old fashioned tea-​room above that’s worth a visit for coffee and cakes before you leave.

I really wasn’t impressed with this place at all.
Firstly, the house is not a house that Jane herself lived in. She lived in a house up the road and this one looks a lot like it except, you know, it’s not the same thing.
The centre itself has three levels. The first level which was the gift shop also has the main part of the centre. The 2^nd level is just a holding area for tours. You do get a 15 minute overview of Jane’s family and her live in Bath but it feels like a lecture. My dad actually fell asleep! The third level is a tea shop.
The museum bit had some interesting clothes from the time. But the focus was more on life during that period with a splash of Jane Austen thrown in. It’s also really small and I left feeling quite disappointed with the whole experience.

Jane Austen Centre is more like an ode to Jane over an actual historical site where Jane lived or worked. It offers a documentary about the yearly Jane Austen festival which has 100s of people dressing in period piece & this happens every Sept
There are a couple of rooms w/​period furniture & clothing along w/​a 15 min schpeal of Amanda Root talking about Bath being the inspiration for Persuasion & Northanger Abbey.
The funniest part is the gift shop where there are tons of Jane Austen references from the serious rare & out of print books to a huge oil on canvas of Mr Darcy — aka — Colin Firth. It’s the same portrait of him we see in Pemberly as Elizabeth is touring it w/​her aunt & uncle… right before the infamous lake scene (whew lawdy!)

Only average, perhaps a dedicated Austen fan would get more out of a trip to this place.
£6 is quite pricey for such a small museum. I was not expecting much considering what I thought was a poor Austen statue outside the museum, and sad to say the museum itself is very small.
Maybe this review is harsh as it is obviously tended to by a dedicated bunch of austen fans rather than a large company but not much here at all really for the casual visitor.

I was surprised by some of the reviews of the Jane Austen Centre. I found it to be a fascinating little place run by people who genuinely do care, and very atmospheric and interesting. The talk was given with humour and panache and the filmshow was very interesting. There were lots of interesting little facts and displays and I found the on-​site tea-​room lovely — and the service was warm and very friendly.
It isn’t a huge exhibition but then considering it’s based in a standard Bath townhouse, I’m surprised that some of the people reviewing here expected any more — how could you expect it to be larger when you saw the building before you went in?!
Recommended to any Austen fan.

Nicht besonders toll. Als mir gesagt wurde, dass hier kein einziges Stück von Jane Austen selbst stammt, sondern eben nur Aus der Zeit von Jane Austen bin ich gleich wieder umgekehrt. Schade.

Despite passing a pleasant afternoon at the Jane Austen centre, I cannot allow it any more than two miserable Qype stars.
If you know anything at all about Jane Austen, there will be little to learn from the talk and ‘exhibition’ and you will waste £6 or thereabouts. While the talk we were treated to was pleasant and vaguely interesting this is not groundbreaking research and frankly you could pick up more by reading a few chapters of any decent Austen biography. The exhibition consists of some costumes from a recent (or forthcoming — couldn’t quite work it out) Austen TV adaptation and frankly is really disappointing.
What is much more fun is the upstairs tea room. Despite the slightly curt service (is this obligatory in English tea rooms?) we passed a very pleasant tea time here, sipping, among other things, Regency and Gyspy Caravan tea and nibbling on delicious scones. We were too full up to try any of the gloriously titled cakes — next time I won’t be able to resist Mrs Bennet’s Lemon Drizzle Cake.
My advice — skip the sham of a museum and just take tea upstairs in the powder blue third floor tea room. Much more civilised.