“OUR HERITAGE AND CONNECTION TO JANE WAS NEVER MORE DISCUSSED THAN IN THE TEAROOM.”
I spent hours cooking with Granny when I was a child. There hadn’t been servants or a cook at Chawton House for decades, and the original house kitchen in the east wing was far too big for domestic use. A small kitchen had been built in my grandparents’ quarters for Granny, which was accessed from the servants’ passage behind the Great Hall. It didn’t take long to get from my bedroom in the north wing, along the corridor, down some steps, through a couple of doors, and along the passage, to get to Granny’s kitchen.
Granny was always busy in the kitchen, cooking daily for my grandfather, Edward Knight, making family lunches for special occasions, baking cakes for the weekly Women’s Institute fair in the Alton Community Centre, making and packing teas for Chawton Cricket Club, or baking for the Tea Room she ran from the Great Hall in the summer months.
The Great Hall was used by my family for birthdays, Christmas, and other private celebrations. The very last dinner we held in the house was my 18th birthday, in August 1988.
The Great Hall was also used for public events, such as the annual horticultural show, and for Granny’s tearoom. The long wooden waist high rectory table along the wall provided a counter for homemade cakes to be displayed. Edward Austen Knight’s grand dining table, with a few leaves removed so as not to be too big, seated about eight and was pushed to the north wall of the room. Five or six other tables were dotted spaciously around the room, each seating four or six. The crockery was a collection of side plates that Granny had assembled over years, two of one plate design, three of another. Each table would be set for tea, with odd Wedgwood plates, and perhaps some Willow cups and saucers.
The old wood cupboard to the left of the fireplace was used as a serving hatch to the kitchen via the servants’ passage and was plenty big enough for a chair, duplicate invoice book with bright blue carbon paper, and a cash box. Granny was famous for her scones, made from the sourest of milk that would be left to ferment in milk bottles along a ledge in her kitchen. By today’s standards of health and safety, I’m sure Granny’s fermenting milk bottles would not pass muster, and she ignored modern ideas of reducing sugar and fat. But there was something completely delicious about everything she cooked. The flavours were authentic, the textures just right and it was simply impossible to have ‘just one’ of anything!
In between preparing orders in the kitchen, Granny would walk along the servant’s passage and into the Great Hall to check that everything ‘front of house’ was as she wanted. This was her tearoom; visitors had entered her home to eat her home cooked food, and Granny expected a certain level of behaviour and decorum and didn’t hesitate to reprimand anyone who overstepped the mark.
Granny humoured me when I was very young and allowed me to ‘help’ serve customers in the tearoom. I gradually took on more grown-up tasks until I was old enough to work as a waitress in return for pocket money. I set tables ready for customers, took orders, carried trays of tea, sandwiches, and scones, and collected money. The profits from the tearoom were probably an important contribution to my Grandparents’ finances, although it was never talked about, and I never asked. It was a family affair, and over the years my mother and cousins all worked front of house in Granny’s tearoom. Visitors to the tearoom often made reference to the long history of the Knights of Chawton as well as Jane, her works, characters, and quotes. Our heritage and connection to Jane was never more discussed than in the tearoom.
Chawton House
Most visitors had been to Jane Austen’s House Museum and knew the resident family at Chawton House were descended from Edward Austen Knight. Occasionally a highly enthusiastic Austen fan would be overwhelmed by the opportunity to speak to Jane’s family. One Saturday afternoon, I approached two American couples, friends on holiday together I assumed, to take their order. They enquired if the Knight family were at home and I replied that yes, we were! I introduced myself and explained that Jane was my fifth great aunt. The darker haired woman immediately looked up and stared at me. Her eyes filled with tears as she rose to her feet. She grabbed my hand, shouted something about how she had never been so close to Jane, wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in close. I dropped my pad and pen on the floor and the tearoom came to a hush as everyone turned to view the commotion. I tried to hide my embarrassment and willed the heat in my cheeks to subside. I was quickly released and smiled at the woman who had regained her composure. I held my emotions in check and proceeded to take the order - tea and cake for four - before I returned to the privacy of the wood cupboard. My heart raced, and my stomach was in my throat. The sudden and intimate nature of the interaction had taken me by surprise, and I was startled for a moment, but I quickly realised her good intentions. I did not want her to know that she had scared me. I did not want her to be embarrassed, both for her sake and for my own; I did not want to prolong the interaction any longer than necessary! I took a few deep breaths, stood tall, and called “Order’ through to the kitchen.
In 2014, Chawton House organised for The Knight Family Cookbook, written in the 18th century by the Chawton House cook, to be printed on subscription, and for the first time, I had my own copy of our family recipes, recipes that Jane would have eaten. I have cooked many of the recipes in the cookbook and created a menu of 16 dishes inspired by Jane’s letters and novels for a fundraiser in 2019. For the first time in 30 years, my parents, brother, and I hosted a dinner party at Chawton House, with guests who came from all over the world to ‘Dine Like Jane Austen’.
Dine Like Jane Austen ©2019 Austen Heritage
We have long had the idea at the Foundation for a Jane Austen Tea for Literacy. The concept of afternoon tea did not appear the mid-19th century, but is so loved today, it is the perfect way for us to share and enjoy an afternoon of Jane Austen fun and laughter and raise money for literacy. The latest long lockdown here in Melbourne, where I now live, gave me the perfect opportunity to create an afternoon tea inspired by my childhood at Chawton House, The Knight Family Cookbook and Martha Lloyd’s Cookbook from Chawton cottage, with lots of recipes Jane would have recognised.
Jane Austen Tea for Literacy ©2021 Caroline Jane Knight
The Jane Austen Tea for Literacy runs from 30th October to 7th November. Register as a host to receive a digital party pack with my exclusive recipes, activity pack, hosting guide, editable templates, social media templates, playlist, and video – everything you need to host a party with your family and friends, in person or via Zoom.
Follow the step-by-step instructions to cook my recipes (or buy the suggested alternatives, if you prefer not to cook). Play Jane Austen and literacy games, enter the raffle, and register for your chance to have a very SPECIAL GUEST drop into your party. There’s even a reward if you raise $200 or more – your own copy of The Knight Family Cookbook, signed by my father, Jeremy Knight!
For more information and to sign up as host for the Jane Austen Tea for Literacy:
I hope you enjoy Granny’s scones and Martha’s Orange Cheesecakes as much as I do!
©️ Caroline Jane Knight
Jane Austen Literacy Foundation founder and chair, author of Jane & Me: My Austen Heritage
