Part 1 of the blog post on Jane Austen, Steventon and the Church of St. Nicholas

Not Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen, Steventon, and the Church of St. Nicholas—Part 1

 

I’m in a churn of delight when I glance at the GPS and see that the Church of St. Nicholas is not more than a half mile away from the turning.  Like the best of anticipations, I can’t see the church as we drive along the road, only trees that clot the roadside and arc their branches over, letting little tatters of sunlight through.  It’s a slim, country road, a one-laner.  Eventually, we hit the end of the road, and the church raises its steeple on the left in a miniscule churchyard.  Birds coo and chirp, bees hum in the sunshine; there’s one other car in the parking lot, whose occupants leave almost as soon as we get there. Continue Reading