Few authors have such strong associations with the natural and cultural heritage of their local area as Thomas Hardy. This cottage, where Hardy was born in 1840, was built of cob and thatch by his great-grandfather and has been little altered since the family left.

Despite training as an architect, writing was Hardy’s first love, and it was from here that he wrote several of his early short stories, poetry and novels including ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ and ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’.

The garden reflects most people’s idea of a typical cottage garden, with roses around the door, and the sound of birdsong, even in winter. Once inside you will discover that 19th-century rural life, with its open hearths, small windows and stone floors, was not always idyllic.

The cottage sits next to Thorncombe Woods, owned and managed by Dorset Council. This is an ancient woodland and nature reserve that opens out onto heathland and the beginning of Hardy’s Egdon Heath. Next to the Thorncombe Wood car park (Dorset Council, pay and display) you will find the Hardy’s Birthplace Visitor Centre, run in partnership by Dorset Council and the National Trust.