When you’re in Dorset you can see where Hardy lived and worked for much of his life. You can explore the towns, villages and countryside that inspired him. You can even see buildings that he designed. He was an architect as well as a writer.
Here are some places local to us that have strong connections with Thomas Hardy.
Max Gate - the house Hardy built
Today it’s furnished as it would have been during Hardy’s lifetime and the garden is still laid out largely as it was originally planned. A surprising feature of Max Gate is the wealth of archaeology. Dorchester is a Roman town, and the site chosen by Hardy for the house was also a settlement over 4,000 years ago.
Max Gate is managed by the National Trust and opens most days of the week between March and October.
It’s a short drive from us – a little over ten minutes, but there’s no parking at the house. Dorchester has plenty of car parks which are a short walk away.
Hardy’s birthplace cottage
The cottage is managed by the National Trust and is open most days between March and October.
A short walk away is the Hardy’s Birthplace Visitor Centre, run by Dorset Council. This has parking, a cafe and other facilities. Like Hardy’s cottage itself, the visitor centre is on the edge of Thorncombe Wood. This is the same woodland that Thomas Hardy explored as a boy, stimulating his love of nature and the Dorset countryside.
Hardy’s birthplace is a 15-minute drive from us. There’s a car park at the visitor centre.
Athelhampton - the grand house Hardy visited often
Thomas Hardy had a long involvement with Athelhampton. He first visited when his stonemason father worked on the roof. Later Hardy’s architect employer was hired to build a new church, just across the road.
Years later a new owner of Athelhampton House, Cart De Lafontaine, often invited Hardy as a dinner guest. The two men shared a love of restoring old buildings.
Athelhampton House is a 20-minute drive from us. It’s open to the public for much of the year.
Dorchester (Casterbridge) - Hardy's home town
He knew the town intimately, having been born and brought up just a few miles outside it. His house, Max Gate, was even closer to the town.
Many of Hardy’s possessions are now displayed in the Dorset County Museum, in the centre of town. There’s a statue of the writer a short distance away, in the area referred to as ‘Top o’ Town’.
Keen readers of Hardy novels will spot parts of Dorchester that appear in his work. Antelope Walk was part of a coaching inn that he wrote about. Maumsbury Rings gets a mention as ‘one of the finest Roman amphitheatres’ in Britain. He describes the mayor’s house as one of the best in town – it still stands today.
The Top o’ Town car park in Dorchester is less than a 20-minute drive from us. It’s a great place from which to explore the town.
Stinsford - the home of Hardy's heart
Hardy’s first wife, Emma, died in 1912. She was buried at St Michael’s Church in Stinsford, a 20-minute walk from their home at Max Gate. Hardy requested that he be laid to rest alongside her, but after his death, it was felt the Abbey was more appropriate. However, his heart was interred with Emma at Stinsford.
His second wife, Florence, is also buried there.
Stinsford appears as Melstock in several Hardy novels.
The church is a 15-minute drive from Upton Grange holiday cottages.