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There are Jane Austen fans. And then are people who love Jane Austen so much that they want their ashes scattered at the 17th century Hampshire Cottage where she wrote her novels. Indeed, the practice has become such a problem that the management of the Jane Austen House Museum has been forced to issue a statement. "While we understand many admirers of Jane Austen would love to have ashes laid here, it is something we do not allow. It is distressing for visitors to see mounds of human ash, particularly so for our gardener. Also, it is of no benefit to the garden!" [Daily Mail] More »
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Jane Austen would have really enjoyed the feud that's taking place over which town has the right to call themselves her "real" home. Bath, which holds a Jane Austen Festival, claims that it is "internationally recognized" as the Jane Austen capital because the city is featured in several of her novels and retains its Regency patina. However, Chawton, Austen's home base from 1809 until her death eight years later, contains the cottage — Jane Austen's House Museum — where she completed all her novels. Says Tom Carpenter of Chawton, "They appear to be laying down the gauntlet. How does one gently correct them? Chawton was the place she called home. From a literary point of view, it all happened here." [Telegraph] More »
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