Stay in Thomas Hardy's Cottage
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Posted by Mike Gerrard Oct 21, 2006 |
England's National Trust has looked after Thomas Hardy's Cottage since it was bequeathed to them in 1948. Located in Higher Bockhampton in Dorset, the inspiration for Hardy's Wessex novels, the cottage was built by Thomas Hardy's grandfather. The novelist and poet was born in the cottage in 1840, and lived there until he was 34. During that time he wrote two novels in the cottage, Under the Greenwood Tree and Far from the Madding Crowd.
Hardy's admirers have always been able to visit the cottage in summer, but the National Trust is now proposing to allow visitors to rent the cottage throughout the winter months too. It will be a way of keeping the cottage open all year round, as otherwise it remains locked once the summer visitors have left. Because the cottage needs to be kept as much as possible as it was when Hardy lived there, visitors will have to be prepared to live life as it was in the 1840's Dorset countryside.
So what will life be like in Thomas Hardy's Cottage? Water will come from an outside tap, though even that is a modern concession as Hardy's family drew their water from a well. Any laundry will have to be done by hand and cooking will be done on an open fire (though you will get lessons, authentic recipes and a food box). You will learn how to keep milk cold without a fridge, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem in an English winter. There will be a bathroom with a flushing toilet, and lighting will be provided by battery-powered candles. Real candles carry too much of a fire risk for the thatched cottage.
It is also hoped that visitors will be inspired to write there, and it should certainly be an inspiring place in which to live and work. But given the facilities, it will be a real hardy existence.
For more information visit:
National Trust Information on Hardy's Cottage
National Trust on the Future of Hardy's Cottage
Wikipedia entry on Thomas Hardy