Joy in a wet English field

Ten surprising facts about Jane Austen's birthplace

‘The Pump Field, Steventon, please,’ I said to my taxi driver.

He looked a bit askance, but off we went through the Hampshire countryside.

We were making a pilgrimage to the field where the house once stood in which Jane Austen was born.

Steventon Rectory, her birthplace, was later demolished and rebuilt on higher ground because of flooding in the valley.

But last weekend its site was occupied by a wonderful country fair where many Janeites celebrated our heroine in the 250th year of her birth.

There was maypole dancing, Morris dancing, rain, tea, cake, and an awful lot of people in bonnets. It was a village fete on steroids, the most English thing ever. And my book-signing queue was the best dressed I’ve ever had!

To commemorate a lovely day, here are ten surprising facts about the house in which Jane Austen was born: