Jane Austen: Derbyshire, England

 
 
 

June 25th - June 29th, 2022

In June of 2022, we will gather in a small group in Derbyshire, England to embark on a Pride and Prejudice walking pilgrimage. The lens through which we will consider the text is "strength of character." Pride & Prejudice is often understood as a wish fulfillment fantasy where a perfect man— rich, handsome, intelligent, kind— comes to love the heroine, in the words of the Bridget Jones’s Diary (a wonderful, though not perfect, Pride & Prejudice adaptation), “just as she is.” As beautiful as that idea is, especially in a patriarchal society that is always telling women they are not enough, the central fantasy of the novel is both more complex and even more romantic: it is a story about finding someone worth changing for who feels that you are worth changing for, too— and who’s willing to change for you with no ulterior motive, no expectation of immediate reward. Someone who changes because they listen to you, even when you’ve wounded them and gives your opinion weight, even when it is not flattering to their self-understanding. And then it’s about having the strength to be that brave and change yourself.

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are each possessed of a strong will, strong sense of self, and strong moral sense, all maintained against the pressure of a society that finds their morals inconvenient at best and sometimes almost traitorous. However, throughout the novel, they have to learn to become permeable to the ideas and perspectives of one another to both find love, and-- more important-- grow into the best versions of themselves. They are surrounded by characters who, unlike them, are either too stubborn to grow or so changeable that they risk losing themselves altogether.

So what we aim to reflect on, throughout the trip, is: how do you know when to hold strong? How do you know when to yield? How do you value your own perspective enough to let it guide you in hard times, but not so well that it blocks out all others? And how do you learn which perspectives to value alongside your own, and which to hold at arm's length?

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 virtual Pride and Prejudice pilgrimage in 2020 and 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 Saturday, June 25th to the morning of Wednesday, June 29th

  • 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:

The total cost of the trip may be paid in two installments. We will be walking up to 12 miles each day, sometimes on hilly terrain. The Derbyshire summer might be hot 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 Saturday, June 25th and ending at the train station in Chesterfield on the afternoon of Wednesday the 29th.

  • Registration is first-come, first-served.

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

  • The remaining payment will be due eight weeks after the first payment.

  • 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 a deposit, 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 and we can fill your place from our wait list, we will refund your full payment minus a service charge (usually 10% of the deposit depending on the credit card processing fee). 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.