Jane Austen and the Genteel Tourist: Longleat’s New Summer Exhibition Celebrates Regency-Era House Visiting

A new exhibition opening this summer at Longleat House in Wiltshire casts fresh light on the fascinating world of Regency-era tourism and the often-overlooked role of the housekeeper.

Genteel Tourists: Visiting Longleat in the Age of Jane Austen, running from 12^th July to 2^nd November, explores the tradition of stately home visits in the early 19th century.

Inspired by the 250^th anniversary of Austen’s birth, the exhibition brings to life a time when well-to-do travellers could tour great houses like Longleat, provided they petitioned the housekeeper first.

One such figure was Mary Ventrice, housekeeper to the 2nd Marquess of Bath. Though a servant by status, Ventrice held a position of considerable responsibility and discretion.

Her name now features in this contemporary exhibition, reflecting how housekeepers of the Georgian period helped shape the visitor experience, a role memorably fictionalised by Austen in Pride and Prejudice, where Elizabeth Bennet is guided through Mr Darcy’s home by the devoted Mrs Reynolds.

Repton Red Book for Longleat 1804 - Picnic at Prospect Hill

“It’s possible Jane Austen herself visited Longleat,” said Longleat archivist Emma Challinor.

“Practices described in her novels mirror what was happening here during her lifetime. Her nephew even signed the earliest surviving visitor book in the House,” she added.

Austen’s own family owned a copy of Excursions from Bath (1801) by Richard Warner, which includes Longleat.

That same guidebook, from the 2nd Marquess’s collection, is featured in the exhibition, alongside a first edition of Mansfield Park (1814) and Humphry Repton’s original Red Book of landscape designs for Longleat, commissioned in 1804.

The exhibition highlights the emergence of stately home touring as a fashionable pastime, placing Longleat’s role at the centre of that cultural shift and one that continues to this day.

Self-guided visits to Longleat House and the exhibition are included with a day ticket. At weekends, visitors can also book a traditional Afternoon Tea another enduring tradition that first gained popularity in the Georgian era.