Hardy Country
Hardy Cottage
Thomas Hardy Tour Program
Day 1 - Depart London and halt for lunch in Sturminster Newton, which was the inspiration for Hardy’s Stourcastle. The town is also mentioned several times in the famous tragedy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Afternoon visits to Higher Brockhampton and Hardy’s Cottage, where he was born in 1840, and where he wrote Under the Greenwood Tree and Far From the Madding Crowd. Also the Old School House in Lower Brockhampton where Hardy went to school. St Andrew’s Church in East Lulworth, which Hardy helped to restore when working as an architect, and which now houses an exhibition of the novelist's life and work, and the churchyard where Thomas Hardy’s heart is buried. Evening stroll past Riverside Villa in Sturminster Newton. Hardy lived at Riverside Villa for the first two years of his married life and wrote Return of the Native there. Dinner in a local pub which has connections to Hardy. Overnight accommodation in Dorset.
Day 2 - Traditional English breakfast. Depart for full-day tour of Thomas Hardy country and Dorchester. Morning visit to Max Gate, the house which Hardy designed in 1885 and had built by his brother, followed by a guided walking-tour around Dorchester, the inspiration for Hardy’s Casterbridge in The Mayor of Casterbridge. An opportunity to see sites which feature in Far from the Madding Crowd, The Trumpet-Major and Under the Greenwood Tree and the Hardy memorial statue. Lunch at own cost. Afternoon opportunity to do some shopping in Dorchester, and to visit the Dorset County Museum which is home to the finest collection of Hardy memorabilia in the world. Dinner in the Hardy Pub, Marnhull. Overnight accommodation in Dorset.
Day 3 - Traditional English breakfast. Depart for morning tour of Hardy’s Jude the Obscure country. Visit Shaftesbury, the model for Shaston in Jude the Obscure where Jude visited Sue while she was still married. Salisbury, the inspiration for Melchester in Jude. Visit St Thomas Church (mentioned in the novel) and the Cathedral where Jude worked. Lunch at own cost. Return to London..