Enjoying Dorchester To The Max

The final part of our Dorchester trip on Tuesday was to visit Max Gate, the home of Thomas Hardy, now in the care of the National Trust. Thomas, born 1840, had grown up in a little cottage just outside Dorchester, where his father was stonemason and builder. He trained as an architect and worked in Dorchester and London, and in 1870 was sent to St Juliot, Cornwall on a commission. Here he lodged in the Vicarage where he met Emma Gifford [sister-in-law of the vicar] She was bright, intelligent, well read and the same age. They fell in love, she encouraged him in his writing - and in 1874, the year that 'Far from The Madding Crowd' was published, they married.

Hardy decided he wanted to moved back to Dorset - so in 1885, he had a house - Max Gate - built to his own design, on the east side of Dorchester, just three miles from his birthplace. He would often walk across the heath to visit his mother on a Sunday afternoon. This house was built to his own design, and he lived here with Emma and their grumpy little dog "Wessex" till Emma's death in 1912.

Two years later, he married his secretary, Florence Dugdale. She was almost 40 years his junior. They were at Max Gate till Hardy died in 1928, and Florence remained till her death 9 years later in 1937.
Here is a picture of Thomas, Florence and Wessex in the grounds of Max Gate in 1924

So Emma and Thomas were here for 27 years, and Florence was here for 23 years - but for 9 of those years she was a widow.
The house is really interesting, do look at the pictures on the NT site.
Kate, Hardy's sister, made the property over to the NT in 1940 - she wanted it to be kept in his memory. The contents were auctioned off [except his study furniture, which went to the museum] For many years, the Trust had tenants living in the house, then for the last 5 years, it has been properly open to the public.
Because the rooms have been re-furnished nothing is 'precious' - so you can sit on the armchairs, play the piano, turn the wheel on the sewing machine in Emma's boudoir, and sit at the desk in Hardy's study. You can even stroke the toy dog, Wessex, who perches on the sofa. 

Here's Bob sitting at Emma's typewriter in her 'boudoir', and me in Hardy's study. She and Hardy were not happy at the end of her marriage, and had separate rooms. How sad!

After Emma's death, a distraught Hardy turned the perpetual calendar to March 7th, the day they met. It remains unchanged to this day.
The house is well worth a visit- you can see the Pet Cemetery [including the grave of Wessex] and in the old kitchen you are able to make your own hot drinks and sit together round the table [I've never done that in any NT property before]
There is a sense that the man has just popped across to see his Mum at her Bockhampton Cottage and he will walk back in at any moment. 
This is where he wrote Jude the Obscure, Tess of the D'Urbevilles and The Mayor Of Casterbridge.  In this relatively austere Victorian property, he entertained many famous people

• writers; J M Barrie, Rudyard Kipling, R.L. Stevenson, H G Wells, G B Shaw
• poets; W B Yeats, A E Housman, Siegfried Sassoon
• others; Ramsay Macdonald, Marie Stopes, Mrs Patrick Campbell, Gustav Holst, T E Lawrence [who regularly nipped over on his motorbike from Bovingdon Camp] and Edward, Prince of Wales

There are flowers in the urns and vegetables growing in the kitchen garden. Do check out the lovely pictures on the NT website!

A very pleasant home. Not all the rooms are accessible to the public- I was a little disappointed I could not go into the 'Bicycle Room'. There are members of my family who'd really appreciate having a room solely designated for the storage of their velocipedes!