Welcome to Regency Week. If you've come to walk in Jane Austen's footsteps, you've found the workshop of one of her own family.

Every piece begins with the tree. I fell it myself, season the wood, then shape, joint and finish it by hand — no factory, no shortcuts, and no two ever quite alike. Oak, ash, yew, cherry, sycamore: each piece keeps the grain and character of the tree it came from.

The Knight family crest

From this Regency Week, every piece I make will carry the Knight family coat of arms — the same arms our family has held at Chawton for generations. A small mark, but it means a great deal: a promise that the piece was made by hand, by a member of Jane Austen's family, in the corner of England she called home.

Handmade by Jane Austen's Family

I'm Paul Edward Knight, Jane Austen's fifth great-nephew. Together with my sister Caroline, we were the last of the family to grow up at Chawton House, the Hampshire estate where Jane lived, wrote and published her most famous novels.

For forty years I worked as a tree surgeon, and these days you'll find me in my workshop turning timber into stools, benches and other useful, beautiful things — each one made entirely by my own hands. I still work the same Hampshire countryside Jane knew — only now with a chainsaw and a lathe rather than a quill.

Own a piece, or commission your own.

Please browse my recent creations & archive here — stools, bar stools, benches and the occasional one-off. Each is a finished, one-off piece, ready to go to a new home.

If you've something particular in mind instead, I'd be delighted to discuss the possibilities.

Shipping can be arranged, wherever you are.

Whether it's a keepsake of your time in Jane Austen's Hampshire or a piece to live with for a lifetime, I'd be delighted to see one of mine find its home with you