There are Jane Austen events all over the place this summer, as a number of previous posts have shown, and thankfully I can post on a few that are right here in Vermont! – so mark your calendars!

The Inn Victoria in Chester Vermont is hosting a  Jane Austen Garden Party on Saturday, July 20, 2013

Enjoy the company of like-minded enthusiasts on Saturday July 20 for a Garden Party at Inn Victoria’s Secret Garden: 

• If you wish you may dress in period costume
• Enjoy book readings
• High Tea in an elegant & peaceful garden setting
• Evening movie [a Jane Austen of course!] on the 8′ x 12′ screen 

You can reserve for the day [events begin about 1pm and go through the evening movie and will cost $35. / person], or you can call to Reserve for the day and a room to spend the night….802-875-4288

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The Governor’s House in Hyde Park Vermont continues its series of Jane Austen weekends with two events this August:

 

 

Pride and Prejudice Weekend on August 2 – 4, 2013  [and if you cannot make this weekend, you can also try September 13 – 15, 2013 or January 10 – 12, 2014!]:

A leisurely weekend of literary-inspired diversions has something for every Jane Austen devoteé. Imagine a literary retreat that will slip you quietly back into Regency England in a beautiful old mansion where Jane herself would feel at home. Take afternoon tea. Listen to Mozart. Bring your needlework. Share your thoughts at a book discussion of Pride and Prejudice and how the movies stand up to the books. Attend the talk about the time of Jane Austen. Test your knowledge of Jane Austen, her books, and the Regency period and possibly take home a prize. Take a carriage ride. For the gentleman there are riding and fly fishing as well as lots of more modern diversions if a whole weekend of Jane is not his cup of tea. Join every activity or simply indulge yourself quietly all weekend watching the movies. Dress in whichever century suits you. Just imagine the interesting conversation with a whole houseful of Jane’s readers under one roof. Weekend guests have commented that they wish there had been a tape recorder under the dinner table so they could replay the evening again and again. It won’t just be good company; it will be the “company of clever well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation”. It will be the best! It’s not Bath, but it is Hyde Park and you’ll love Vermont circa 1800.

 

And also this:  Special Jane Austen Weekend in Character, August 9 – 11, 2013

Another Jane Austen “in character” weekend is scheduled for August 2013. Each guest will choose to be a character from any one of Austen’s novels. Period dress is optional, but guests will interact in character throughout the weekend. The activities will depend somewhat on the weather and participant interest, but may include a Regency dinner party, an evening of games, letter writing, fencing, English Country dancing, crewel embroidery, tatting, rolled paper decoration, a game of croquet, a very long walk, riding, carriage driving, archery, shooting, and a picnic with or without Colonel Brandon. Rates are the same as regular Jane Austen weekends, but there is an additional charge to participate in some activities. Now’s your chance to be Elizabeth Bennet, Anne Elliot or Lady Catherine, but only one of each character may sign up so make haste to confirm your reservation. Bring your own Darcy or maybe meet him on the croquet lawn. Perhaps the door to the romance of Jane’s world isn’t in Hammersmith after all.

You can view the video of last year’s character weekend here:

 

You can also participate in the Inn’s periodic Afternoon Teas: [see website for costs]

• Afternoon Tea and Tea Etiquette Talk – June 30, 2013 3:00 pm
• Jane Austen Tea – August 3, 2013 3:00 pm
• Jane Austen Tea – September 14, 2013 3:00 pm

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And a small digression here: Innkeeper Suzanne began her series of Downton Abbey discussion dinners this past winter and these will continue once the new season is broadcast, so watch the website for dates and times.  And if this isn’t enough to fill up your schedule, Suzanne is also embarking on a new literary adventure called the Vermont Apple Pie Literary and Travel Society:

The fictional Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society began as a spur-of-the-moment inspiration to make it possible for the people of Guernsey to get together and enliven their existence during the time of the World War II German occupation of the islands. Although this is Vermont and our pie will be apple, we too want to enliven our evenings with stimulating conversation. Guernsey during the occupation and how that impacted the daily lives of its citizens will be the topic for our first series of dinners and talks.  We will organize a travel adventure to Guernsey and other Channel Islands in May.

It’s not your ordinary book club, more like a salon where discerning minds can share their intellectual curiosity, although books will be part of the backdrop of our discussions and we will suggest a list of possible titles to consider reading for each topic. The dinners will be held on Saturday evenings and for those who spend the weekend, there may be other activities to expand the general topic. We invite your thoughts and participation. So if you enjoy the society of people who read and think, want to learn something new, enjoy talking about ideas, yearn to visit new places and expand your circle of interesting friends, then please join us because we want to hear what you have to add to the conversation.

The dinners will be held at the Governor’s House in Hyde Park, 100 Main Street, Hyde Park, Vermont.  Cost is $45.00 plus tax per person and, of course, includes home-made apple pie. See the website for reservation information.

Schedule for Guernsey under German Occupation:

Dinners & Discussion:

• October 19, 2013 – 6:00 pm
• February 1, 2014
• March 8, 2014

Travel to Guernsey:  May, 2014

For more information and how to sign up, as well as a suggested reading list, please visit the website here: http://www.onehundredmain.com/events/vermont-apple-pie-literary-and-travel-society/

 

Future topics include:

• Newfoundland and its connections to the Channel Islands and other places
• Rudyard Kipling in Vermont
• Palladio, Vicenza and the legacy to English and American architecture
• Spices: where they come from, how they got here, and what we do with them

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Hope to see some of you at these various events – one wonders what we actually did before Jane Austen took over our lives?

c2013 Jane Austen in Vermont