House, Gardens & Cafe Open Tuesday - Sunday 10.30 - 17.00

Regency House Tour

Tuesday 25th June 15:00-16:00

Although Jane Austen and Gilbert White never met, Austen knew Gilbert White’s house and it’s inhabitants during the regency era. White and Austen knew many of the same people and walked the same landscapes. In our house tour your Regency guide will take you around Gilbert White’s House introducing you to the 18th Century naturalist and writer, who in Austen’s time, was the local literary celebrity of the day.
Part of Alton’s Regency Week  

    Gilbert Whites House

    Gilbert White was aged 7 or 8 when the White family moved from the Vicarage on Selborne’s Plestor, to this house, called ‘The Wakes’ (named after the Wake family who had lived here previously). At that time the property would have been no more than a ‘two up, two down’  but over the subsequent years lots of extensions and additions have been made, creating the long sizeable house you see today.

    The rooms have been restored following descriptions in White’s own correspondence and include a chair he used at Oriel College, Oxford (loaned from the College), items of contemporary furniture, family portraits and bed hangings embroidered for him by his aunts.

    On display is the original manuscript of his book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, which was purchased with generous help from English Heritage and others.

    Learn more