John Head, who is part of the society’s heritage team, said Austen would have a hard time recognizing Worthing now, more than 200 years later.
“You have to have a very good imagination to walk around and see buildings that Jane would have seen,” he said.
However, Mrs Belton said Austen would have recognized the cottage’s exterior.
“It is now rendered white, in his day it would have been finished in the distinctive cream yellow brick of Worthing,” he said.
“Inside, it has changed a lot, although the roofs, windows and mansard roof are the same height.”