On a summer’s day just like Thomas Hardy would have liked, many of our English Literature and Language students headed out to Dorchester and its environs to research the writer’s context and wider work. Thomas Hardy is Dorset’s most-famous author and poet, and students have just begun to study his novel ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’.

The group made an initial stop at Woolbridge Manor, the setting for key scenes in the novel, before visiting the Hardy statue and Dorset Museum in Dorchester, where we were given a highly informative presentation by Alban O’Brien. After having some free time to explore the Hardy exhibition and other areas of the museum, we headed to Hardy’s birthplace in Higher Bockhampton, learning about his origins and family whilst standing in beautiful surroundings. After a pit stop at McHardy’s restaurant, the group headed to our final location, which was Max Gate, a grand and unusual house which Hardy had built as a space to work, surrounded by trees, a druid stone, and his pet cemetery.