Jane Austen: Derbyshire, England

 
 
 

April 24-28th, 2023

This April, we will gather in a small group in Derbyshire, England to embark on a Pride and Prejudice walking pilgrimage led by Margaret Willison. Our days will consist of daily class time, long walks, delicious food at local pubs, and peaceful moments for reflection. We will explore the text through the theme of compromise, using sacred reading practices with passages from the novel to deepen our understanding of the book and of ourselves. Outside, we will ramble through beautiful countryside and woodlands for up to twelve miles a day, allowing the landscape to energize and refresh us.

For the time we are together, we will be thinking about what role compromise plays in Pride and Prejudice. We’ll connect these themes and conversations to our own lives, asking ourselves questions like: when has compromise acted as negative or positive force in your life? How can you discern when you should compromise and when you should hold true to your position? What guiding principles in your life can help you navigate moments of conflict?

Our group of pilgrims will convene at the Chesterfield train station on the afternoon of Monday, April 24th to begin our adventure and depart from there on the afternoon of Friday, the 28th.

Margaret H. Willison

Margaret is a writer, librarian, podcaster, and self-titled social media bon vivant. She is one half of the Two Bossy Dames newsletter, one third of the Appointment Television podcast, and a regular fourth chair on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. She is completely unsure who she would be had she not been introduced to Jane Austen at a formative age, and has considered extensively which of Austen's heroines would most benefit from therapeutic invention (Fanny Price, closely followed by Elinor Dashwood).

She led Common Ground’s second in-person Pride and Prejudice pilgrimage last June, and our virtual Pride and Prejudice pilgrimage in 2020. She also taught our online Writing As Empathy course using Emma by Jane Austen as the guiding text.

Margaret is our faculty leader for this pilgrimage.

Elizabeth Oldfield

Elizabeth Oldfield is an experienced leader, speaker, writer and podcast host with a passion for intelligent public engagement on issues of faith, identity, and healing our common life. She appears regularly in the media, including BBC One, Sky News, the World Service, and writing in Prospect Magazine, UnHerd and The Financial Times. 

She also hosts The Sacred, a podcast, events and visual content brand which creates space for a wide range of guests to reflect on their deepest values. She is motivated by the dearth of real wisdom in public life, by a desire to increase empathy across our deep differences and the way spirituality can help individuals and societies flourish. She has a masters in Theology and the Arts and lives in an intentional community in south london. 

Elizabeth will be providing chaplaincy support throughout the pilgrimage.

Mandy Sheppard

Mandy has a BA in English Literature from the University of Sheffield, during which she found a love of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, amongst many other writers. Much more recently she completed an MA in Gender and Women’s Studies and English from the University of Lancaster. Her MA led her to specific interests in women’s health, post-colonial women’s literature, violence against women and girls, and motherhood studies. She does voluntary work with a charity whose purpose is to assist women experiencing domestic abuse. Her passions are reading, feminist theory, growing flowers from seed and walking. She lives in rural Lancashire, UK with her husband and 2 children who share her love of books and reading, and especially Harry Potter!

Mandy will be the Logistics Coordinator for the Pride and Prejudice pilgrimage.

What’s Included:

  • Four nights of accommodation in shared rooms at the historic Rutland Arms

  • All meals from the afternoon of Monday, April 24th to the morning of Friday, April 28th

  • One-on-one chaplaincy

  • Private walking tours, picnics, and talks with local experts

  • Customized journal

  • Entry to Chatsworth House and other sites we visit

Logistics:

We will be walking up to 12 miles each day, sometimes on hilly terrain. The Derbyshire springtime might be mild and sunny, or wet and windy, sometimes all in the same day. We won’t be rushing but we expect to be tired at the end of each day. We will be meeting at the Chesterfield train station on the afternoon of Monday, April 24th and ending at the train station in Chesterfield on the afternoon of Friday, the 28th.

  • All rooms are shared.

  • People who have attended another Common Ground pilgrimage will receive a 5% discount on the cost of the trip.

  • Registration is first-come, first-served.

  • We will reach out to the first registrants with a link to make their payment within 72 hours of receiving their registration link.

  • When you sign up through our registration system, it will act as a wait list, and we will let you know via email once a spot has been confirmed for you.

  • If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at commonground@notsorryproductions.com.

COVID Policy:

We are so excited to begin traveling with you again, and as always, our first priority is to make sure that the trips are safe for everyone involved, including the communities we visit and the people who host us. To that end, we are keeping a close eye on the evolving COVID situation and will update you as frequently as we can if the situation with the pilgrimages changes. 

Below are some potential expectations we could have in terms of COVID safety. Only sign up for the trip is you feel comfortable following any/all of the below guidelines:

  • Wearing masks indoors or outdoors, no matter group size

  • Social distancing, both indoors and outdoors 

  • Getting proof of a negative COVID-19 test within a certain number of hours before traveling to destination

  • Getting proof of a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival at the destination

  • Proof of full vaccination

  • Quarantining upon arrival to destination country

On our end, we will refund fully any payments made for the trip in the event that we at Common Ground Pilgrimages have to cancel due to change in travel restrictions, variants, etc. 

By making payment, you acknowledge the above precautions and are willing to follow them, or any similar recommendations, when you come on the pilgrimage. 

Refund Policy:

Please be sure you can attend the event before booking. If an unforeseen circumstance does occur, we will do our best to find a replacement for you. If we are able to get someone to take your place, we will refund your full payment minus a service charge (10% of the full payment). For cancellations within six weeks of the beginning of the trip, we are not able to find replacements. We strongly urge you to purchase travel insurance in the event of a personal conflict, health issue, or unexpected circumstance.