A PIECE of Hampshire heritage returns to the county this week.

Visitors to Jane Austen’s House Museum will get the chance to see the author’s turquoise and gold ring, pictured, which arrives on Friday.

The ring was recently bought at auction by American pop singer Kelly Clarkson, but was subsequently purchased by the museum after an export ban was placed on the jewellery.

It was the result of a public appeal by the museum, raising funds to bring the relic back to its Hampshire home. Meanwhile the museum is also planning 200th anniversary celebrations of the publication of Mansfield Park, the first of the author’s books to be written entirely at the cottage-cum-museum in Chawton.