The only way is Wessex! The joys of exploring the unspoilt landscapes of Hardy country

UK Daily Mail ^ | January 16, 2020 | Neil Clark

[C19fan]

Looking out at a single-track country lane over unspoilt downland, I'm struggling to see any signs of human habitation. And yet I am barely 20 miles south of Oxford, home to 150,000 people.

In a memorable scene in Jude The Obscure, the title character of Thomas Hardy's novel has his first sight of the dreaming spires of 'Christminster' (Oxford) from a spot close to where I am parked. Hardy's grandmother lived in the nearby village of Fawley, and the stonemason who dreams of being a scholar is given the surname Fawley in the book.

Jude couldn't wait to leave his village and head to his nearest university town, but I go in the opposite direction as often as I can.

[C19fan]

I hope I can visit one day....The 2015 adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd" was filmed in Dorset.

[InkStone]

Thanks for your post! Thomas Hardy was a fine writer who really brought his characters to life; more Americans should read his works.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

When I was quite young and depressed, I read many Thomas Hardy books. Believe me, they will not lift you out depression. The books are tragic, and full of "if only" moments when a slight change of fate would have made all the difference between joy and hopeless despair.

The characterizations and writing are wonderful. They truly evoke a time and place, but joyous they are not.

I believe Amazon has 25 of Hardy's novels available for free in one Kindle edition.

[pierrem15]

The only way is Wessex!

I saw the headline and thought, "Where is our last kingdom? Who will be our Alfred the Great to preserve our liberties against the leftist horde?"