Tour director Jackie Klaassen

SilverLining Cruises and Tours has announced its special ‘Limited Edition’ Jane Austen tours for 2013, with three departure dates to choose from. The tours take participants through the historic landmarks that served as the backdrop for the novels written by the legendary British author.

The tours will be led by Jacqueline Klaassen, a native of England and an expert on the life and times of Jane Austen. They will explore the bucolic Hampshire countryside; the Georgian streets of Bath; Lyme Regis, where Jane Austen enjoyed sea-bathing; the cottage where she wrote, and Winchester Cathedral where she is buried.

Participants will see some of the grand houses that she herself saw and that filmmakers have used as the settings for her stories. Accommodations will be in updated historic properties such as those in which she would have stayed.

History buffs and Jane Austen fans alike will gain a deeper understanding of Jane: where and how did she lived, where she traveled, what she saw, and whom she knew. The continuing appeal of her novels begs the question: Now travelers can decide whether movies and TV series accurately portray Jane Austen’s world, by walking in the footsteps of  Jane Austen’s area of England, where there is still much that she would recognize. Relevant passages from her writings and her insightful observations are sure to work their magic in the midst of these enchanting places.

The cost for the 11-day tours is $2,500 per person. The price includes all accommodations with breakfast, three evening meals, ground transportation and airport transfers, all entrance fees and guide services.

SilverLining Cruises and Tours, www.silverliningcat.com