The South Feature

Among this region's proudest claims is its connection with Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), one of England's most celebrated novelists. If you read some of Hardy's novels before visiting Dorset—re-created by Hardy as his part-fact, part-fiction county of Wessex—you may well recognize some places immediately from his descriptions. The tranquil countryside surrounding Dorchester is lovingly described in Far from the Madding Crowd, and Casterbridge, in The Mayor of Casterbridge, stands for Dorchester itself. Any pilgrimage to Hardy's Wessex begins at the author's birthplace in Higher Bockhampton, 3 mi east of Dorchester. Salisbury makes an appearance as "Melchester" in Jude the Obscure. Walk in the footsteps of Jude Fawley by climbing Shaftesbury—"Shaston"—and its steep Gold Hill, a street lined with cottages. Today many of these sights seem frozen in time, and Hardy's spirit is ever present.