The Dorset County Museum, in Dorchester, has a fascinating gallery exhibition exploring the lives and work of Dorset’s authors, poets and playwrights – all of whom were inspired by Dorset’s landscape and people. Authors’ work explored in this exhibition includes that of Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Townsend Warner; Dorset poet William Barnes, novelist John Meade Falkner; Jane Austen, William Wordsworth and Sir Walter Raleigh.
Thomas Hardy was born and raised in Dorchester and is perhaps the most well-known and celebrated of Dorset’s authors. The exhibition includes a reconstruction of Thomas Hardy’s study from his home at Max Gate, complete with his furniture, personal possessions and the pens he used to write Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.From the 11th October to 11th December, the Dorset County Museum also has a brand new and very interesting exhibition, Thomas Hardy on Stage and Screen, which explores Thomas Hardy's relationship with dramatic adaptations of his novels and stories for stage, screen and TV.
Many of Hardy’s works have been adapted for film and television and the exhibition has displays of posters, photographs and film clips, as well as previously long-lost footage of some early adaptions of his work.The New Hardy Players were formed in 2005 to celebrate the works of Thomas Hardy. Recent performances include The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Distracted Preacher. Norrie Woodhall (who is 104 years old) is their “guide, inspiration and President”: she is one of the last people who knew Thomas Hardy and she was a member of the original Hardy Players, an amateur dramatic group which performed Hardy's works between 1908 and 1924.
If you’re visiting Thomas Hardy country this autumn and winter, don’t forget to book bed and breakfast accommodation in Dorset or self catering accommodation in Dorset as soon as possible. We look forward to meeting you.