Oakley Hall

What would Jane Austen have made of today's event, I wonder. Test Day South is an industry driving day organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, at which invited motoring writers can drive all the latest models and network with PR contacts from the car companies. Having outgrown the venue used in previous years, it was at a new one this time: Oakley Hall, in the Hampshire countryside near Basingstoke.

Now a posh hotel, Oakley Hall is a Georgian manor house built in 1795. In the 19th century it was occupied by the Bramston family, whose neighbours included Jane Austen and her parents living at a nearby rectory. Jane used to walk across the fields to visit her friends the Bramstons, and is known to have Included some details of Oakley Hall in her description of Fanny Price's room in Mansfield Park.