The Hampshire house where Jane Austen wrote Pride & Prejudice is up for sale 

Anyone who has read Jane Austen will know that for the writer, properties are characters in their own right. Take Pride and Prejudice, Austen's magnum opus, in which her protagonist Elizabeth Bennett, having icily rejected Mr Darcy's first proposal of marriage, seems to warm to his offer on viewing his country estate of Pemberley. The ‘large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground,' seems to be a stand-in for Darcy himself, and persuades Elizabeth that ‘to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!' 

Given this, of particular significance for fans of Austen will be the properties associated to the writer herself. Now on the market for £8.5 million is Steventon House in rural Hampshire, the site of the Rectory where the writer lived with her family from 1775 to 1801, before her father retired as Rector and moved them all to Bath (a city Austen deplored). Supposedly the most tranquil period of the writer's life, it is believed that at Steventon, Austen wrote three out of her seven finished novels – Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Northanger Abbey (1817). 

The original rectory in which Austen and her family lived sadly no longer exists – but the current house was built by the writer's older brother Edward Austen, who later sold the land to the Duke of Wellington in 1855. However, Steventon House, which is located on the peripheries of the idyllic village of Steventon, still feels fittingly Austenian. The House is approached via a driveway lined with trees and passes Clover Cottage, a annex property (ideal for hosting visitors who have come to take the country air). The main house is Georgian, Grade-II listed, painted in white with stucco elevations and a slate roof.

Inside, are a litany of elegant reception rooms and a master bedroom with an adjoining dressing room and 5 further bedrooms. ‘High ceilings with delicate cornices and sash windows give all the rooms enormous character,’ reads the listing, a line that could have been written by Austen herself. ‘The accommodation comprises of well proportioned and elegant reception rooms, suitably arranged for entertaining with an array of fine period features,’ continues the description. As well as more antiquated details such as carved wood panelled fireplace surrounds, the finish feels Country Modern with contemporary amenities such as a temperature controlled wine cellar. 

Of course, any tour of a Austen-affiliated house wouldn't be complete without a turn around the gardens. And at Steventon House the gardens – of which there are 51.64 acres – has plenty to see. A well mown lawn surrounded with cherry trees is located at the front of the house, with vistas over the extensive parkland. At the back of the property is a walled garden, featuring a yew tree and enclosed seating areas (perfect for surreptitious conversations). A coach house – previously Victorian stalls and currently operates as a gardener's workshop and garage also feature at the back of the house. The tennis court and heated swimming pool almost certainly weren't here when Austen was writing Pride and Prejudice, but if they had, it's pretty certain they would have got the nod of approval. 

The property is on the market with Knight Frank and Savills.