7-2-09 Continued

So, the last time I wrote I hadn't quite finished with the details of the Dorset County trip. I will try to be brief...

After Stinsford church we made one more church stop at West Stafford, the church Tess was married in. Then continued on to Dorchester (I would guess it to be a town roughly equivalent to the size of Goshen). The significance of Dorchester is that it is the town where Hardy lived out most of his adult life as well as being “Casterbridge” in The Mayor of Casterbridge County.

We first went to Max Gate, the home that Hardy designed and had built and lived in until his death. It is privately owned and inhabited and unfortunately is only open a few days each week, this day not being one of them. We decided it would be best not to disregard the “Keep Out” and “No Trespassing” signs. The rest of our time in Dorchester was spent walking through the town and identifying locations for different scenes in The Mayor, including the Maumbury Rings where Susan met up with Henchard for the first time since being sold by him at the beginning of the story, the Kings Arms Inn where Elizabeth Jane and Susan see Henchard through the window conducting a town meeting, Henchard's home, Lucetta's home, etc, etc.

We also visited the Dorset County Museum which housed a lot of Hardy memorabilia including an exact recreation of his study at Max Gate with all of the original furniture and items placed exactly as they had been in the real thing. Our next stop, not too far out of Dorchester was the tithe barn in Abbotsbury which is the location of the harvest festival in Far From the Madding Crowd. Last stop of the day was Chesil Beach. I don't think this had any literary significance it was just a beautiful place to sit on the beach (not of sand but rather small rounded pebbles) to eat the leftovers of our packed lunches for dinner. So far I have managed not to have eaten even one meal in a restaurant (but I know that will change soon).