Having had a stagnant summer with no visit to Britain or Ireland this year, I inevitably find myself reflecting on my annual trips to Hardy's Wessex between 2016 and 2019. During each of these four years, I walked past the Hardy family home at Higher Bockhampton, a small village a few miles outside Dorchester:
I've read somewhere that the Hardy home at Higher Bockhampton is the model for the Yeobright family home in The Return of the Native, the first novel I read by Hardy when I was seventeen, 37 years ago. A short walk away from the Hardy cottage, you find yourself on Egdon Heath, the dark, magical environment from The Return of the Native. A friend and I got lost there a few years ago, if you're not careful, the paths crossing in all directions become like a maze.
Not far from the Hardy family cottage at Higher Bockhampton, you can see many places that influenced settings in Hardy's novels: Lower Bockhampton for Under the Greenwood Tree; Knapwater for Desperate Remedies; Puddletown for Far from the Madding Crowd; West Stafford for the church where Tess and Angel get married in (for me) Hardy's finest novel, Tess of the D'urbervilles.
The shot below is of the visitors' centre near the Hardy cottage:
The visitors' centre is well worth a visit for a good, reasonably-priced breakfast or midday meal. It also sells Hardy's novels and some books about Hardy, as far as I can remember.
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