Sound II, statue by Antony Gormley in the flooded crypt inside the Winchester Cathedral, England. May 12, 2008

Inside of Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, England. Since I’m a quilter, I could not pass up including this quilt. May 12, 2008

Inside of Jane Austen’s home in Chasten, England. May 12, 2008

Here I am standing outside of Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, England. May 12, 2008

Portree, where we stayed on the Isle of Skye, Scotland is a village located at the base of the Trotternish Peninsula. May 18, 2008

Bonnie and I arrived early in the morning. Although the sky was overcast and it drizzled most of the time we were there, everything about being at Stonehenge felt magical, powerful and enduring. May 3, 2008

The ancient stone circle of Stonehenge in England. The monument evolved between 3000 BC and 1600 BC and is aligned with the rising and setting of the sun at the solstices but its exact purpose remains a mystery. May 3, 2008

Bath is the epitome, to me anyway, of British high style. The city is best known for its creamy warm-tone limestone called “Bath stone,” that creates this distinct Georgian style architecture. It blends the ancient Roman touches and history with a wonderful British nuance and flair. It is the home of the mineral hot springs, the architecture of local John Wood, Italian Andrea Palldio, the aristocrasy of Beau Nash and the romance of Jane Austen who used Bath as the backdrop in several of her novels. I was lured to Bath by Jane Austen. I didn’t really find Jane, but I did find a city with a great deal of history and charm.

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is more commonly known as Bath Abbey. Founded in the 7th Century, it is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. May 4, 2008

Me at the Circus. It is an example of Georgian architecture in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, begun in 1754 and completed in 1768. The name comes from the Latin ‘circus’, which means a ring, oval or circle. May 4, 2008

Bonnie and I at the Roman Baths in Bath, Somerset, England. May 4, 2008

Bonnie and I left Glastonbury early in the morning for our drive to Bath arriving before the crowds and leaving as the city was closing. (May 4, 2008)

The beautiful city of Bath, England, showcasing its beautiful and ancient Roman Baths. May 4, 2008

Although I had hoped to visit the Jane Austen Center, I realized it was just a tourist trap. But since Jane Austen has mentioned the Pump Room (the building to the right), I thought this would represent her so much better.Earlier this year, before the trip, I scheduled my Sunday evenings around the PBS aired Masterpiece adaptations of the Jane Austen novels, along with a new biopic of her life in “The Complete Jane Austen” series. A part of this series also included the re-broadcast of my favorite Austen 1995 adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, although the 2005 movie with Kiera Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen is beautiful to look it, the 1995 version a fuller telling of her story.

Then for my birthday in March, Bonnie gave me this wonderful little book by Maggie Lane, “A Charming Place: Bath in the Life and Novels of Jane Austen.” The book is about how the city of Bath impacted Jane’s life and writings. Although her work caught my attention, the woman behind the words and stories was drawing me in. A woman who never married but wrote so convincingly about love and who, in a time when women could not work for a living, wanted to do more than marry into money, she wanted to earn her own.

Bonnie standing in the shaw of the Abbey ruins in Glastonbury, England. May 6, 2008

The ruins of the 7th century’s Abbey in Glastonbury, England, was a rich and powerful monastery. It became associated with the legends of the Holy Grail and King Arthur in the 10th century. There is a site on the Abbey grounds that is said to be King Arthur’s ‘former’ tomb. May 6, 2008

Glastonbury, England, home to our first pub experience at the Rifleman’s Arms is also the place where we called home from May 3-7 at the Melrose House B&B. This is a spectacular view of the Tor, a conical hill topped by a 14th century church tower.