I will release my retelling of Pride and Prejudice the first day of February – which I call Valentine’s MONTH!
To begin the weekly countdown I present my map of the locale where Eliza grew up and became an immortal shapechanger.
Eliza’s home is Bennet Manor, a farm in the tiny village of Longbourn somewhere in Hertfordshire county, about 24 miles north of downtown London where her uncle and aunt by law live in considerable style. On that site today is the beautiful Harpenden Golf Club which hosts events in its club house.
Meryton, the “big city” (to the Bennet girls) is a half hour’s easy walk to the north. Professor of Criminology and Sociology Kenneth Smith in an essay thinks it might be Harpenden. Meryton had a town hall (as does Harpenden) where the Bennet girls meet the Netherfield company at a ball.
Netherfield where Darcy’s friend Charles Bingley rents and lives is an easy walk to the north and east. There are several places where it could have been. My favorite spot is Aldwickbury Park where there’s a golf place with a large dining and party venue.
To see a separate page with a larger map click HERE. Once there you can zoom in and out on the map, click on individual items to get more info, use Street View to virtually cruise the locations, and see photographs of the places if they’ve put them on the web.
