She may only have walked our streets for a little over four years, but Bath – and many of its historical and social attractions – is going big this year on celebrating its connections with the Regency novelist Jane Austen.
It’s the 250th anniversary of her birth and Bath is out to benefit from it with a whole host of events which, hopefully, will bump up the number of visitors we welcome into this World Heritage city.
Last night l arrived early for an event at the Guildhall during which Visit West – the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) for the West of England – invited people from the historical and commercial realms of Bath to hear more about what was planned for 2025.
This is, of course, over and above the annual Jane Austen Festival, whose promenade of hundreds of people in Regency dress is a high point of the year! See http://janeausten.co.uk
Basically, Visit West promotes tourism and has Visit Bath and Visit Bristol under its umbrella.
In between the Jane Austen Dancers of Bath rehearsing for an insert into ITV West news and staff ensuring every guest had a badge to wear and a drink in their hand, I sat down to talk to Kathryn Davis who is Managing Director of Visit West.
Amongst the guests were several people who run commercial guided tours in the city.
Two of them who specialise in Jane Austen and her time in Bath arrived in time for me to meet.
Theresa Roche of Strictly Jane Austen Tours looked fab in her Regency outfit – complete with feathers.
Just before she arrived, l had a chance to talk to Jules Mittra – the founder of an award-winning tour company called In and Beyond Bath.
PS Find out more about the official annual Jane Austen Festival via a podcast l did recently with Festival Director, Georgia Delve. That’s via Spotify at Wyatt’s Place.
You can link here https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Rh6sDYbxVR3dmnVHat5Ew?si=b6ab09a1dab64c6c
