Thomas Hardy and Dorset

Thomas Hardy celebrated the glorious county of Dorset through his writings. Today our vision of Dorset is very much that fixed by Hardy in novels ranging from Far From the Madding Crowd and The Mayor of Casterbridge to Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Hurriedly produced in instalments for magazines, they were then reworked by Hardy with care and finesse, and turned into world classics.

Steve Wallis and Hardy's Wessex

Steve Wallis revisits the Dorset heartland of Hardy's Wessex, and illustrates the changes that have taken place using old and new images. He charts Thomas Hardy's life and work through the places he knew and the locations he immortalised, from his birthplace at Stinsford, to his old age at Max Gate, with Swanage, Sturminster Newton, Weymouth and Wimborne in between. Join the author on this unique and nostalgic tour through time.