‘It has to be about the work’

what artist Sarah Hough did, to contemplate and respond in art to the environment she found there. It was no small effort, but in Sarah’s book neither was it evidence for the cod-philosophy that claims it is necessary to suffer for one’s art.

The woodland heart of Hardy country

A captivating little parcel of mixed woodland and heath around the picture postcard pretty hamlet of Higher Bockhampton – known the world over as the birthplace of Thomas Hardy – Thorncombe Wood Local Nature Reserve receives at least 60,000 visitors a year many of which may still be missing out. That’s according to Dorset Council Read More…

A Hardy biennial

Few places on Earth are completely immune to change, but lovers of Thomas Hardy’s writing must count themselves fortunate that large swathes of the Dorset landscape are proving remarkably resilient. To those attending the 22nd biennial International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival the appearance of the Dorset landscape is essential to the understanding and enjoyment Read More…

Thomas Hardy: The ‘Facts’

In its continuing quest to understand more about who we are by exploring where we came from and how we got here, the Time and Tide Theatre Group has assembled an all-Dorset company for its latest revue, Words Take Wing, which premieres at Eastington Manor in Worth Matravers as part of Purbeck Art Weeks. Drawing on Read More…

Thomas Hardy and the goldfinch

The celebrated pet cemetery at Max Gate is an unequivocal declaration of Thomas Hardy’s love of animals and his epitaph for his beloved, if unruly, wire-haired terrier Wessex is a testament to his rarely heralded mastery of brevity. It says, simply: ‘Faithful. Unflinching.’ It’s little surprise to find Hardy was a member of the RSPCA, Read More…

Chris Chibnall 2015

Chris Chibnall has done as much to raise the profile of Dorset in the nation’s eye as anyone in recent years. The creator of Broadchurch, which was shot on location largely in and around West Bay and is now back with an eagerly anticipated second series, moved here some 12 years ago to settle in Bridport. Read More…

Lulworth! Camera! Action!

Had British film pioneer Cecil Hepworth followed up his passing fancy Brownsea Island may well have been included in the pantheon of great British film studios alongside Pinewood, Shepperton, Elstree and Ealing. Hepworth, who is credited with inventing the panning shot while filming the funeral of Queen Victoria in February 1901, was a keen sailor Read More…