The Jane Austen house museum in Bath felt more like a shopping mall than a tribute to her work

I finally went to Bath last spring after wanting to visit for years. Paid 15 pounds to get into the Jane Austen Centre and walked out feeling like I had been sold a ticket to a gift shop with some wax figures thrown in. The whole place is just upstairs in this old building and they rushed our group through so fast I barely got to read the displays. Downstairs is all tea towels and keychains. I get that they need to make money but it felt like the history part was an afterthought. My book club read Persuasion last month and I was so excited to see where she wrote it but the house itself is barely connected to her - she only lived in Bath for a few years and not even in that building. Anyone else find famous author museums disappointing compared to the hype?

2 comments

2 Comments

anna_hill10d ago

When I went to the Bronte parsonage in Haworth I had the opposite problem - way too much history, not enough bathrooms or places to sit down. They packed so many original scribbles and personal items into those tiny rooms I got claustrophobic after twenty minutes. Maybe there's no perfect middle ground between feeling like a museum and a commercial trap.

miles5410d ago

Then I'd probably knock over a 200-year-old inkwell in five minutes flat...