In the Footsteps of... with Gyles Brandreth

Hardy's Britain

With input from Hardy experts and celebrity fans, Gyles discovers that, although Wessex may be fictional, the locations Hardy describes are influenced by real places. Athelhampton Hall is the inspiration for Bathsheba’s Farm in Far from the Madding Crowd. Hardy’s own home at Higher Bockhampton is the inspiration for Under the Greenwood Tree. Casterbridge is a thinly disguised Dorchester and Stonehenge is the dramatic setting for the end of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. However, Gyles discovers it’s not only real-life locations that inspired Hardy, but real events too.