DAY ONE Arrive at your accommodation and settle in. DAY TWO In the morning, visit Hardy's Cottage, Thomas Hardy's birthplace, set amongst a peaceful landscape of woodland and heath and where he wrote Far From The Madding Crowd and Under The Greenwood Tree then visit Stinsford Church where his heart lies buried alongside his family and both his wives. Stop for lunch at the visitor centre and then visit the church where the D'Urbervilles lie buried before taking a tour of mid Dorset, the setting for several of his novels. DAY THREE Visit Max Gate, the home Hardy designed and built for himself and where he lived until the end of his life. Here he wrote his later novels including Tess of The D'Urbervilles and Jude The Obscure. Followed by a tour of north Dorset where he lived with his first wife and where he wrote Return of The Native. See the setting for Tess's Cottage, The Pure Drop Inn and Rollivers before heading back through some of the most bucolic countryside in England. DAY FOUR Time to head home! Transfer back to Dorchester station.