Hampshire is throwing a year-long birthday celebration in 2025 for one of the world's most famous authors – and Jane Austen fans from across the globe are invited to join in.

Marking the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, Hampshire – the county where she was born, wrote all her novels, and died – is set to stage a host of special events, tours and exhibitions.

While more details will be announced over the coming months, some major events have already been revealed - including the first public opening of the Winchester house where she spent the last weeks of her life and died in 1817.

Winchester College will open No. 8 College Street for a limited time in the summer as part of a worldwide celebration of the anniversary.

Through displays and artefacts, visitors will learn about the author's connections with the city and the story of her last days, while at nearby Winchester Cathedral – where she was buried - there will be a special service, theatre performances, tours, and the unveiling of a statue. Her manuscript of poem 'To the Memory of Mrs Lefroy' will also be exhibited for the first time.

Among other top attractions will be new exhibitions and events at Jane Austen's House in Chawton, the most treasured site dedicated to the writer in the world. Her home for the last eight years of her life and where she lived, wrote and published her novels, its anniversary line-up launches in October 2024 with the opening of a new permanent exhibition, Jane Austen and the Art of Writing. For 2025, new events will include themed festivals based around her novels Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma and Persuasion. The village is also home to Chawton House, owned by her brother Edward and known to the writer as 'the Great House', which will also be marking the anniversary.

Just a few miles from Chawton lies the village of Steventon, where the writer was born on 16 December 1775, and spent the first 26 years of her life. A series of events are planned for 2025, including a Jane Austen's Country Fair on Sunday 6 July on Pump Field, the site of the rectory in which Jane Austen was born, which no longer exists.

Hampshire Cultural Trust will also celebrate the landmark anniversary with exhibitions and events around the county, including the Beyond the Bonnets exhibition, at The Gallery in The Arc in Winchester and then the Willis Museum in Basingstoke. And Winchester's Great Hall will host a Regency ball and fashion show in summer 2025.

Jane Austen's travelling writing desk is going on display in Southampton for the first time since she lived in the city more than 200 years ago. It will be displayed from November 2024 until February 2025 in God's House Tower, just a stone's throw from where she lived during her time in the city.

Elsewhere across the county, celebrations will also be staged in Alton, which will host Regency Balls in January and June, and Portsmouth, both of which have strong connections to Austen, culminating in her birthday anniversary on 16 December 2025. And in neighbouring Berkshire, Reading - a 45-minute journey from Chawton - will be revealing its own links with Jane Austen as part of the anniversary, including a chance to visit her former school room in the historic Abbey Quarter.

For more about Jane Austen 250 events across Hampshire, see www.visit-hampshire.co.uk/whats-on/jane-austens-250

Photo: Luke Shears

Notes to editors:

For further information about Jane Austen 250 events and news across Hampshire, please contact:

Visit Hampshire: Mark Hibbert, markhibbert@mac.com

Visit Winchester: Shona Byrne, shona.byrne@lizleanpr.co.uk

Southampton Forward: Samantha Richardson & Nicola Goode, tourism@southamptonforward.org.uk