A 500-year-old cottage that's literally two doors down from Jane Austen's house in Hampshire
In a hopelessly picturesque village within the South Downs National Park, Baigens is a wonderful house in a magical spot — and it's just come up for sale.
Chawton is one of the best-known villages in England — yet if you didn't know it was there, you'd easily blast right past it. The A31 — a dual-carriageway that's one of the main traffic arteries in this part of north-east Hampshire — carries thousands of cars a day between Winchester and Farnham, and precious few realise that as they speed along listening to their true crime podcasts, they're within half a mile of the celebrated cottage that was home to Jane Austen.
The writer lived here in the charming Chawton Cottage from 1809 until her death in 1817, and for most of the 209 years since then it's been a place of pilgrimage for all those who love her pithy, amusing and often wildly romantic novels. Last year, Austen-mania hit new heights: 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, and there were great celebrations at several of the places she once lived — not least her cottage itself, which has been the Jane Austen's House Museum since 1949.
Jane Austen's House in Chawton has been a museum since 1949.
Anybody who's visited Chawton will be struck not just by the plethora of Austen-related attractions, but also by the overriding beauty of this quaint village. Many of the houses here are half a millennium old, with wonderful gardens and effortless rural charm — so it's a cause for celebration when one of those homes comes up for sale, as is the case this week: James Machell of Strutt & Parker’s country department is overseeing the sale of Grade II-listed Baigens, which sits not just on the same road as Austen's house, but is literally just a couple of doors down.
The agents are asking £2.5 million for this delightful Tudor house, which oozes period character and charm, and is set in 1½ acres of lovely gardens that include a freshly-re-laid tennis court, boules court (or maybe that should be pitch? rink?) and a small but productive orchard.
On top of that, as previously noted, it's an easy place to get to: Alton (with its direct trains to London) is three miles away, both Winchester and Farnham are an easy drive, and you're right in the South Downs National Park.
Built of mellow brick under a gabled tile roof, Baigens offers more than 4,800sq ft of well-proportioned living space on three floors, including three reception rooms, six bedrooms and four bathrooms.
A particular highlight is the drawing room, which boasts a series of Elizabethan fresco paintings, as mentioned in the house's listing with Historic England.
And while the nice people at Historic England (or Strutt & Parker for that matter) would never make so bold a claim, you can be almost 100% sure that Jane Austen herself must have paid a visit and sat in this very room. Quite possibly she went home afterwards and wrote scathing commentary about gaffes committed by the then-owners, but as her letters and diaries were burnt after her death, we'll never know for sure.
Baigens is for sale through Strutt & Parker at £2.5 million — see more details.
