Almost 60 visitors from all over the world promenaded in costumes through Trowbridge to enjoy a traditional English cream tea at Parade House. The Grade I listed Georgian townhouse was built for a wealthy clothier in 1720 and has been lovingly restored to its former glory by its owners Simon and Carey Tesler. Parade House was once described by Pevsner in his Guide to Wiltshire as the "Centrepiece of a Stretch of Palaces along Fore Street”.
Jane Austen Festival-goers dressed in Regency attire promenade through the streets to Parade House in Trowbridge. (Image: Trevor Porter) The Jane Austen Festival visitors from Bath recreated scenes that wouldn’t have been out of place in the recent Netflix television series Bridgerton. Members of the public, photographers and even contractors working in Manvers Street lined Wicker Hill and Fore Street as Wiltshire’s county town attracted its first tourists to the newly-regenerated town centre.
Mrs Tesler, events director at Parade House, said: “It was amazing and was probably one of the best things that we have done. “It such fun and was lovely to see. Even the guys from the roadworks walked down in their hard hats to look.
“There were hardly any British, it was mostly tourists. It was amazing, they were from all over the world. “There were a lot of Americans this time and a lot of Scandinavians, people from Australia and some Japanese.
” Jane Austen Festival-goers dressed in Regency attire promenade in front of Parade House .