Thomas Hardy’s Cottage, Nr Dorchester
In the small Dorset town of Higher Bockhampton, is the cottage in which the writer Thomas Hardy was born. He lived in the house from 1840 until he moved to London some 20 years later, though he did return in the 1870’s to write both Under the Greenwood Tree and Far From the Madding Crowd. The cottage is also near to the neighbouring village of Egdon Heath, which is the main setting for Hardy’s tale, ‘The return of the Native’.
This beautiful thatch cottage was built by his great-grandfather in approximately 1800, and it has been kept in a remarkably unaltered state, since Hardy’s family left. Many remnants still exist from Hardy’s youth and on visiting the cottage, it is possible to see the barred window where employees of the hardy’s building firm collected their wages.
Despite being located only 3 miles from Dorchester, a busy market town, Thomas Hardy’s Cottage is in a very isolated location. Surrounded by the buildings large garden, the cottage is hidden within woodland that is littered with footpaths and a huge variety of wildlife.
Today, the property, which was originally constructed from cob, though this has now been given rendered protection, is looked after by the National Trust and has been since 1948 when it was bequeathed to them. Nearby, the Trust also maintains Max Gate, the house which Hardy himself designed, and lived in until his death in 1928. It was here that he wrote his final masterpieces, Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
