Perhaps no novelist inspired the idealized vision of the English country house more than Jane Austen. Through her sublime writing we are left with romantic images of great houses set in gorgeous landscapes populated by people—flawed and wonderful—who find common ground with decency and kindness. The reality is that Jane herself visited many of the great houses of England and used them as models in almost all of her books. This lecture will examine country houses that inspired Jane and left us with a fanciful world of English rural beauty unequaled in literature.