Literary LANDSCAPES

Good writers create gripping plots and convincing characters, but also, often, a powerful sense of place. From windswept countryside to bustling cities, these authors all have strong links to distinctive landscapes, giving their stories a unique flavour and appeal.

Thomas Hardy’s Wessex

Hardy’s tales of 19th century rural life conjure bucolic images of country farms, winding rivers for example, Dorchester is the real ‘Casterbridge’, and in , Christminster is Oxford and Melchester is Salisbury. Dorset is the heart of Hardy Country, and both his thatched-cottage birthplace in Bockhampton and Max Gate, the Victorian house in which he wrote , are situated there.