I knew what I had to look for and approximate area, but I could barely believe that through this small opening in the hedge I could see what remains of the Rectory at Steventon where Jane Austen was born. There is nothing more than part of a well in that small area of longer grass. It was thanks to my dear Pbase friend Ray:) who drove me to see the church where Jane would listen to her father's sermons and where the family lived for 30 years.

It is almost three years since I took these photos but I have been waiting for July 2017 when it will be 200 years since her death on the 18th.
If I had the chance to invite someone to dinner it would be Jane.

The Steventon rectory no longer stands (it was demolished by Jane’s brother Edward who built a new house for his son, William Knight, who later took over the parish). The site of the old rectory can be seen on the corner of the lane leading from the church where it meets the road going to the village. On foot, it is possible to see some fencing around an old pump which would have been in the rectory backyard. The house had fields at the back where the Austens farmed and grew potatoes - still a novelty at that time. There were also formal gardens and there was a barn.
It was in the rectory that Jane Austen wrote the first drafts of her novels which were to become Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey.