Pride and Prejudice: Derbyshire, England
September 22nd - 26th 2025
This September, pilgrims will gather in a small group in Derbyshire, England for a pilgrimage dedicated to author Jane Austen and her most widely read novel, Pride and Prejudice. The trip perfectly dovetails with the Jane Austen Centre’s festival from September 12-21, held in honor of both Austen’s work and her 250th birthday. We highly recommend you take a cue from The New York Times and immerse yourself in Austen’s world, enjoying all the extra programming this historic year. Together with Common Ground faculty member and host of the Pantsuit Politics Podcast Sarah Stewart Holland, pilgrims will journey through Derbyshire, experiencing the breathtaking estates, gardens, and hikes of Austen’s England.
As a writer, Austen uses Regency culture’s societal structures as a framework for the creation of her characters. These markers define her characters, but also can obscure the specificity of their individual selves, weaknesses, and desires. Pilgrims will spend time contemplating the relationship between status and self, asking questions like: how do we use the social structures embedded in our culture to shape our identities? How does status cloud or clarify our perceptions of our peers? What values are we embodying when we accept or reject the signals from these structures? We will engage with these questions as Lizzie Bennet does, walking through the countryside with our hems, “six inches deep in the mud.”
What’s Included:
Four nights in a shared or private room at the beautiful Rutland Arms Hotel
All meals from dinner on September 22nd to breakfast on September 26th
Transportation within England from the afternoon of September 22nd to midday on September 26th
One-on-one chaplaincy sessions
Private walking tours, beautiful picnics, and museum tours
Customized journal
““I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but no one with such justice.””
Our home base throughout will be the Rutland Arms Hotel, Eatery, and Coffee House, a perfect accommodation in the area of Bakewell that is just a ten minute drive from Chatsworth House, a historic site in Derbyshire that was used for a filming location in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
PRICING/LOGISTICS:
The full tuition of the trip is as follows:
$5,250 for Private Room
$4,750 for Shared Room
We will meet near the Chesterfield Train Station after lunch on September 22nd and end programming at Chesterfield Station before lunch on September 26th. Specific meeting time and location will be privately offered to pilgrims upon registration and payment.
Each pilgrim is responsible for handling their own travel expenses and arrangements prior to our meeting on September 22nd and after we say goodbye on September 26th.
ACTIVITY LEVEL (LEISURELY, MODERATE, OR CHALLENGING)
We rate this trip’s activity level as moderate: We will walk up to 8 miles each day. The weather in the UK is notoriously variant; however, we will walk come rain or shine, and we recommend that pilgrims prepare for the possibility of precipitation and muddy boots. We won’t rush our hikes, but we expect to be tired at the end of each day.
Registration Process
We offer a three-installment payment plan for this trip (more details below).
People who have attended another Common Ground pilgrimage will receive a 5% discount on the cost of the trip (even with a payment plan!).
Once you register, spots are offered on a first come, first served basis.
Within three business days of your registration, we will send you a link to complete your payment for the trip. You will then have 48 hours to fulfill payment and officially reserve your spot.
If you cannot fulfill payment or if we do not hear back from you within 48 hours, we will offer the spot to the next registrant on the list until all the spots are full.
At that point, we will notify any remaining registrants that they are now on our waitlist for this trip: if a spot opens up, we will offer it in order, from the earliest to most recent registrant, until it is claimed.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our team at commonground@notsorryproductions.com.
PAYMENT PLAN DETAILS
Common Ground offers payment plans that split the full tuition cost into three parts. If you’re interested in a payment plan, you will make this request in your registration form.
Within three business days, the Common Ground team will email you at the address you have provided with all the information needed to activate your payment plan and reserve your spot.
PAYMENT PLAN PRICING
Shared Room:
$950 Deposit Upon Registration
May 1, 2025: $1,900 Automatic Withdrawal
July 1, 2025: $1,900 Automatic Withdrawal
***
Total Cost of Pilgrimage: $4,750
(Pilgrimage with 5% Discount: $4,512.50)
Private Room:
$950 Deposit Upon Registration
May 1, 2025: $2,150 Automatic Withdrawal
July 1, 2025: $2,150 Automatic Withdrawal
***
Total Cost of Pilgrimage: $5,250
(Pilgrimage with 5% Discount: $4,987.50)
Trip Faculty
Sarah stewart holland | Faculty Leader
(she/her)
Sarah is the co-host of the award-winning podcast Pantsuit Politics, which prioritizes curiosity over the conflict that often drives political conversations. Beyond that, she’s a lover of Jane Austen, international travel, and themed parties.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times and The Atlantic, and her show was recognized as “Podcast of the Month” by Good Morning America in 2022. She also co-authored of Now What? How to Move Forward When We’re Divided (About Basically Everything) (2022) and I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation (2019) with her co-host, Beth Silvers.
Sarah will serve as lead faculty on this trip.
Vanessa Zoltan | Chaplain
(She/Her)
Vanessa is the CEO of Not Sorry Productions. She hosts three of our four podcasts: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Let’s Ask Taylor Swift, and Hot & Bothered. She founded Common Ground Pilgrimages in order to travel with brilliant faculty to beautiful places and talk about books with amazing pilgrims. It was a great trick she pulled off. She is also the author of the book, Praying with Jane Eyre.
Vanessa was trained as a non-denominational chaplain at Harvard Divinity School. She is a proud California girl who currently lives in MA with her gorgeous, blended family.
Vanessa will serve as chaplain for the trip.
Refund Policy:
Please be sure you can attend the event before booking. If an unforeseen cancellation 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 eight 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.