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Items on display include Regency costume - riding jackets, ballgowns and summer dresses, Jane Austen’s letters, paintings and contemporary objects - such as seaside guidebooks, as well as interactive spaces. The museum has worked with students from Arts University Bournemouth to recreate seaside scenes which enable visitors to connect with this story in ways that are relevant, informative and fun, and appealing to both local residents and visitors. Down to the Sea highlights the importance of the sea in Britain’s Regency era from holiday getaways to naval battles, Austen had two brothers in the Navy so was well informed on military pursuits. The practice of sea bathing was becoming fashionable as a health Headlines July and August 2025 2025 celebrates 250 years since the birth of one of Britain’s most well-loved authors, Jane Austen. Born in 1775 Austen achieved much in her relatively short life, and the Dorset Museum & Art Gallery will be one of many national venues celebrating her work this year. Down to the Sea focuses on Austen’s relationship with the sea and coastal towns, she was schooled in the Southwest and Dorset towns feature in her novels. In Persuasion Anne Elliot is “restored” by her visit to the seaside, and Lyme Regis stirs emotions in Louisa Musgrove as she is trans fi xed by the harbour wall around the bay. The exhibition explores the sea both as a location and as a character in Austen’s novels, as well as its effect on the author herself. treatment, and Austen herself praised its bene fi ts after contracting a fever in Lyme Regis. In Pride and Prejudice Mrs Bennet said that “a little sea bathing would set me up forever”. The exhibition explores this interest, from bathing huts, and bathing machines pulled by horses to the clothes typically worn. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about Jane Austen, as well as the role of Dorset as a seaside destination. Suzy Rushbrook Jane Austen: Down to the Sea 4 HUGH THOMPSON ‘A GENTLEMAN POLITELY DREW BACK’ for ‘PERSUASION’ (Watercolour) Follow evolvermagazine on Instagram AUB STUDENTS RECREATE SCENES FROM ‘PERSUASION’ AT LYME REGIS EVENING DRESS, SILK SATIN AND NET (1815 - 1820) PAIR OF SHOES, LEATHER AND SILK (c. 1800) 14 June – 14 September: Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, High West Street, DORCHESTER, DT1 1XA. 10am – 5pm. . 01305 262735 dorsetmuseum.org ‘NORTHANGER ABBEY’ AND ‘PERSUASION’ FIRST EDITIONS (1818)