Thomas Langlois Lefroy
In 1796, Lefroy began a flirtation with English novelist Jane Austen, who was a friend of an older female relative. Jane Austen wrote two letters to her sister Cassandra mentioning "Tom Lefroy", and some have suggested that it may have been he whom Austen had in mind when she invented the character of Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice", as the courtship between Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen took place over the year or so that "Pride and Prejudice" was written. In his 2003 biography, "Becoming Jane Austen", Jon Spence suggests that Jane Austen actually used her and Tom LeFroy's personalities as the models for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, but not in an expected way. Spence suggests that Jane Austen used Tom Lefroy's more gregarious personality as the model for the novel's heroine Elizabeth Bennet, and her own measured demeanor was used as the model for the male protagonist, Mr. Darcy. So while the exact influence of Tom Lefroy on "Pride and Prejudice" continues to be debated, it does seem certain that his presence in Austen's life is in some way reflected in the novel.
Goodnestone Park
Not long after the house was built, extensive formal gardens developed around the house, the brainchild of William Harris. However, Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet (the grandson of Brook Bridges, 1st Baronet) replaced the gardens at the end of the 18th century with a landscape park and made several alterations to the house. He married Fanny Fowler and had a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Edward Austen, brother of the famous author Jane Austen. The young couple stayed at Rowling house on the estate for several years before moving to nearby Godmersham and Jane was a regular guest at Goodnestone. It was after staying at Rowling House in 1796 that she began writing her novel "Pride and Prejudice", originally named "First Impressions".