Dorset Visitor Guide 2019

This is the landscape that novelist Thomas Hardy used time and again as a backdrop for his tales of love and tragedy. Visit a village inn and it’s easy to imagine florid farmers and caddish aristocrats flirting with doomed maidens in their low-ceilinged, flagstone-floored barrooms. Today his cottage birthplace and sophisticated Victorian town house of his own design are run by the National Trust. Pick up or download a Hardy Trail leaflet to discover Hardy’s Wessex for yourself. Brewery Square Dorchester 5 visit-dorset.com #visitdorset Hardy’s ‘Tess’ Cottage’, Evershot. H ard y C ountr y Dorchester Hardy’s Casterbridge has had a makeover. A vibrant new quarter brings a Covent Garden feel to Dorset’s county town. Brewery Square, a popular shopping and leisure destination has inspired chef-led restaurants, cafés, bars, brasseries, bistros and a cinema to move in. It is all a far cry from Dorchester’s horrible histories, the notorious ‘hanging’ Judge Jeffreys and deportation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Weymouth Seaside fun by the bucket load. Weymouth entertains all year with events, fun-filled attractions, colourful streets and an eclectic mix of bars and eateries. Enjoy the golden sands and safe shallow waters followed by supper at the buzzing harbour. The colourful Georgian architecture of Custom House Quay starred in the 2017 epic movie Dunkirk. Prince Charles’ Poundbury cannot fail to impress. Wander its stunning architecture and you could be forgiven for thinking you have walked right on to a living film set. Weymouth