Having driven to the car park we follow the first sign that directs us to the birthplace of the writer Thomas Hardy
The track is long and steep in places
After about 20 minutes we began to feel that this was a very reclusive family
Until we arrived at the cottage and saw that there was a much shorter and flatter route (about 15 minutes walk)!
We had walked over the hill instead of round it on part of the Hardy trail
The National Trust need to make their signing clearer!
Well we are here now and enjoying the truly cottage garden
The cottage was built of cob and thatch by Hardy's Grandfather and Hardy was born here in 1840
Thomas Hardy was an English Novelist and Poet, a Victorian realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in is novels and poetry by Romanticism, especially by
William Wordsworth
He has about 50 books to his name, the most popular being
Far From the Maddening Crown
Jude the Obscure
Tess of the d'urbervilles
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Under the Greenwood Tree
His books reflect this area of Dorset which we see in the films of his books
An upstairs study in the cottage
a bedroom
As in many of these old cottages there are stairs at both ends
We ascended at the other end up steep stairs but at this end the stairs are more a steep ladder
The upstairs rooms are usually linked in these old cottages - they do not have a corridor
Back downstairs to what would obviously have been the living room area
This area was left of the front door with the Parlour to the right
We did not go into the parlour as a group of visitors were sitting listening to a volunteer reading from one of Hardy's books of poetry
Too time consuming for us as we plan to visit his own home after this
The house on the left is nothing to do with the Hardy home
but this is the road that we could have arrived by, had we known, but at least we can now walk back to the car park this way
I asked how people who could not walk could visit the house but was told that they could telephone and arrangements would be made for them to park close by
I guess you would lose the authenticity of the cottage in the woods if there was an adjoining car park
There were actually some nice houses on the way back that definitely would not have been there in Hardy's time
