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| Ranger's yard, Thorncombe Wood |
During 2009 and 2010 Martin Cooke has been working with Dorset County
Council and the National Trust to develop a project to provide new interpretation and visitor facilities for people coming
to Hardy's Cottage near Dorchester and the adjacent Thorncombe Wood. Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in a traditional cob
and thatch cottage at Higher Bockhampton, he lived in the cottage until he was thirty two and wrote two of his most well known
novels there, 'Under the Greenwood Tree' and 'Far from the Madding Crowd'. His writing throughout his life
was inspired by the landscape and people within it and it is this connection that this project will seek to bring to life.
New visitor facilities together with improved interpretation, access and a range of new activities are being planned.
A Heritage Lottery Fund round 1 bid was submitted in August 2010 on behalf of the project partners by Heritage & Leisure
management. In December 2010 the decision was announced that the request for £400,000 in principle and £40,000
development funding was successful. Work is now underway to develop the round 2 application to be submitted later in 2011.
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