JANE Austen’s House Museum at Chawton is following up on a record-breaking bicentenary in 2017 with the acquisition of a manuscript letter from the author to her niece, the unveiling in February of a garden memorial, and displays to celebrate the 200th anniversaries of novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Last year the museum welcomed more than 55,000 visitors from across the globe, making the trip to Chawton to see where it was that Austen wrote and completed her famous novels.

Following the January closure period, the museum will kicked off the new season last Thursday with the unveiling of a garden memorial by letter carver Pip Hall, commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death.

The memorial takes the form of a beautiful social seating space, and carved into the stone is a quotation from a Jane Austen letter, placing her words at the heart of this most precious place.

The quotation was chosen by two Jane Austen fans following a call to the public to suggest a favourite Austen quote.

The seating space was due to be officially opened by author and Jane’s Fund Ambassador Paula Byrne.

This year, displays throughout the museum will celebrate the 200th anniversaries of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. These two works were the last of Jane’s novels to be published and, sadly, Jane herself never lived to see them in print. In the months following her death in 1817, Jane’s brother Henry orchestrated their publication as a pair.

The first of two displays, Family, Friendship and Northanger Abbey will run from February to August and will explore the themes of family and friendship in both Northanger Abbey and the lives of the Austen family.

Included within this display will be a newly-acquired treasure in the form of a manuscript letter from Jane Austen to her niece, Caroline Austen, written at Jane’s home in Chawton in the spring of 1816. The letter, secured by the museum privately thanks to a grant awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, shows Jane characteristically darting from one subject to another, beginning with a discussion on literature before offering Caroline news of visitors, family members and the ‘sad’ March weather.

A museum spokesman said: “An absolute highlight of this display, the museum is incredibly proud to open the year with news of this very important new acquisition.”

The second half of 2018, the year that marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, is dedicated to ‘Persuasion and War’.

Although Austen didn’t often write about war in her novels, it is a subtext to many of the stories and this is particularly true of Persuasion. Jane Austen, like Persuasion’s heroine Anne Elliot, was familiar with waiting for news of loved ones caught up in conflict. Austen’s knowledge of the Navy was extensive as two of her brothers were enlisted and both achieved high office. Running from September to December, ‘Persuasion and War’ will consider the impact of war on Jane Austen’s novels, the life of the Austen family, and on the country at large.

The museum will continue to run a varied events programme in 2018, including guided walks, writing workshops, talks from historians and academics, and a celebration event of the museum’s bicentenary community quilt project.