MEET Mr Darcy and dress up as Elizabeth Bennet as Jane Austen fever hits Southampton.

The city is to celebrate the life of one of England’s most celebrated novelists with its own Jane Austen Festival in 2017.

A host of events will take place throughout the year to mark the bicentenary of the death of the author who lived in Southampton and whose novels were often inspired by it.

Taking The Flounce or Nonsense & Insensibility, a take on Jane’s life in Southampton and her family, friends and acquaintances, will launch the event, starting from Holy Rood Church each night from June 26 to 30.

Spa Fever has gripped the city as royalty, artists and naval officers flock to take the waters and indulge in sea bathing in the hour and a half theatrical perambulation around the streets of Old Southampton so familiar to Jane.

A weekend of events, including singing and dance workshops, talks, exhibitions and an evening concert, will take place at Tudor House Museum, St Michael’s Church and The Dolphin Hotel, three places with connections to Jane Austen, on September 30 and October 1.

Dressing up as characters like Charles Bingley and Elinor Dashwood is highly recommended as the Regency Banquet and Ball arrives at The Dolphin Hotel on Sunday, October 1. Learn the rules of the Ball, meet the Master of Ceremonies and the cream of Southampton Spa Society including the Marquis of Lansdowne and Lady Betty Craven as well as Jane Austen herself in the very ball room she once danced in.

Guided walks, on subjects such as The Bits Jane Left Out, Literary Netley and Pattens to Peartree, take place on selected dates throughout the year.

The festival ends with a gothic, heritage and history themed lantern Halloween ghost walk around the ruins of Netley Abbey from October 30 to November 1.

Jane Austen spent three periods of her life in Southampton, as a schoolgirl, as a teenager dancing at the Dolphin, and as a mature women and aspiring author but her time in the then spa town is relatively unknown.

The Sarah Siddons Fan Club Theatre, named after the actress who performed at the Southampton French Street Theatre when Jane Austen lived in the town, were successful in a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to stage the festival.

Tickets, priced £7, are available online at WeGotTickets.com or by emailing info@sarahsiddonsfanclub.org or calling 023 8086 2882.