Thomas Hardy Country
Our tours meander through the beautiful Dorset countryside, villages and hamlets, Hardy imagined as "partly real, partly dream country".
Visit his birthplace and the home at Higher Bockhampton, where he wrote most of his first four novels including Under the Greenwood Tree and Far From The Madding Crowd. Later follow in Hardy's footsteps from his cottage to Stinsford church, the Hardy family place of worship and where Hardy's heart lies buried in a silver casket under a yew tree alongside his family. This is the "Mellstock" of Hardy's Wessex.
Nearby lies Dorchester (Hardy's Casterbridge) and Max Gate where Hardy lived for nearly forty years until his death in 1928. We'll visit the town's museum, which contains the world's finest collection of Thomas Hardy exhibits, including a reconstruction of Hardy's study at Max Gate.
Later we'll travel to Bere Regis or, Hardy's 'Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill', which contains the real family tomb of a local family, the Turbervilles. However it is here in Tess of the d'Urbervilles that Tess and her family spent a night underneath the d'Urberville (Turberville) Window.
Enjoy the scenery from Hardy's High Stoy, overlooking the White Hart Vale. This area features in The Woodlanders and the poem Under Stoy Hill. Close by is the Cross-in-hand, a stone pillar, where in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Alec made Tess swear that she would never tempt him from his new found religious life. The stone pillar is also the subject of his poem The Lost Pyx-A Medieval Legend.
At Cerne Abbas, or, Hardy's Abbot's Cernel visit the church where two brass tablets make reference to the Notley family. The Notley's were early settlers in America and owned Cerne Abbey Manor in Washington, the site on which Capitol Hill stands today. In 1676, Thomas Washington married Maria Randoll in this church. It is said that Thomas was the uncle of George Washington, the first President of the United States of America.
Booking this tour
If you would like to enquire about the availability of this tour or, require further information please click here for our online enquiry form where you can also indicate any accommodation you require.
Remember, if you are already staying in the Wessex area and have arranged your own accommodation you can still book any of our tours and we'll collect and return you to your accommodation each day.
