'The Hardy Way' by Margaret Marande

Absolutely love this book, have read it twice recently, and will keep on dipping into it for the foreseeable future.  Just love the structure of the book which deals with a walk of over 200 miles (mainly in Dorset) that takes in endless Thomas Hardy sites along the way.

What makes this book especially impressive is how it is divided into 13 short walks, with all the Thomas Hardy significance about especially his novels being connected to hundreds of places (real names and fictional names juxtaposed together) throughout the walks.  In this sense, the book has the following structure:

1.  Higher Bockhampton to Wool ('Under the Greenwood Tree'; 'Far from the Madding Crowd'; 'A Pair of Blue Eyes'; 'The Return of the Native'; 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles')

2.  Wool to Wareham ('Desperate Remedies'; 'Far from the Madding Crowd'; 'The Distracted Preacher'; 'The Hand of Ethelberta')

3.  Wareham to Wimborne ('The Hand of Ethelberta'; 'Two on a Tower'; 'The Woodlanders')

4.  Wimborne to Cranborne ('The Trumpet Major'; 'The Return of the Native'; 'Tess of the 'Durbervilles')

5.  Cranborne to Shaftesbury ('Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'Jude the Obscure'; 'Two on a Tower')

6.  Shaftesbury to Sturminster Newton ('Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'Jude the Obscure'; 'The Return of the Native')

7. Sturminster to Buckland Newton ('Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'The Woodlanders')

8.  Buckland Newton to Evershot ('Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'The Woodlanders'; 'Far from the Madding Crowd'; 'Interlopers at the Knap')

9.  Evershot to Bridport ('Far from the Madding Crowd'; 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'The Woodlanders')

10.  Bridport to Ferry Bridge ('The Trumpet Major'; 'The Well-Beloved')

11.  Isle of Portland ('The Well-Beloved'; 'The Trumpet Major')

12.  Portland to Owermoigne ('The Well-Beloved'; 'The Melancholy Hussar'; 'Desperate Remedies'; 'The Return of the Native'; 'The Trumpet Major'; 'The Distracted Preacher'; 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'Far from the Madding Crowd')

13.  Owermoigne to Stinsford ('Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'The Return of the Native'; 'Under the Greenwood Tree'; 'Desperate Remedies'; 'Far from the Madding Crowd'; 'The Mayor of Casterbridge')

As just one example of how good this book is, the map above/below shows you how to move from Hardy's birthplace at Higher Bockhampton following the Snail's Creep path towards Waterson Manor (Bathsheba Everdene's Weatherbury Farm) and Druce Farm (Farmer Boldwood's Little Weatherbury Farm) from 'Far from the Madding Crowd':
 

While below, there is a map of the Isle of Portland extremely useful for anybody wanting to find places of significance from 'The Well-Beloved' on the island:

In late August, I spent about five days in and around Dorchester finding a few places of Hardy significance e.g. Stinsford church; Higher Bockhampton; Max Gate; Bere Regis; Puddletown; the Michael Henchard house and Hardy statue in Dorchester; Athelhampton Hall; Salisbury; Stonehenge; Winchester etc.  But now having read Margaret Marande's 'The Hardy Way: A 19th Century Pilgrimage' a couple of times (and I'll undoubtedly read it again), I'm confident of finding all kinds of places of Hardy significance when I hopefully return to Hardy's Wessex some time next year.  For me, this is the real magic of this book, and I'm indebted to the author.