Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | Derbyshire, England

As a writer, Austen uses Regency culture’s societal structures as a framework for the creation of her characters. These markers define her characters, but also can obscure the specificity of their individual selves, weaknesses, and desires. Pilgrims will spend time contemplating the relationship between status and self, asking questions like: how do we use the social structures embedded in our culture to shape our identities? How does status cloud or clarify our perceptions of our peers? What values are we embodying when we accept or reject the signals from these structures? We will engage with these questions as Lizzie Bennet does, walking through the countryside with our hems, “six inches deep in the mud.”

We will walk up to 8 miles each day. The weather in the UK is notoriously variant; however, we will walk come rain or shine, and we recommend that pilgrims prepare for the possibility of precipitation and muddy boots. We won’t rush our hikes, but we expect to be tired at the end of each day.

Our home base throughout will be the Rutland Arms Hotel, Eatery, and Coffee House, a perfect accommodation in the area of Bakewell that is just a ten minute drive from Chatsworth House, a historic site in Derbyshire that was used for a filming location in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

• We will meet near the Chesterfield Train Station after lunch on September 22nd and end programming at Chesterfield Station before lunch on September 26th. Specific meeting time and location will be privately offered to pilgrims upon registration and payment.

• Each pilgrim is responsible for handling their own travel expenses and arrangements prior to our meeting on September 22nd and after we say goodbye on September 26th.

Scholarships

We occasionally offer partial scholarships for pilgrimages. If you are interested, please fill out our form here.