Trifter

Hardy had not been married long when he moved to Sturminster in 1876.  He and his wife Emma chose a Victorian Villa, overlooking the River Stour for their first real home together.

Despite the distractions of the scenery, Hardy chose a room above the Stour for his study and it was here that he was to write most of one of his most successful novels, the Return of the Native.  Although it was set near the heaths of his family home near Bockhamptom, it could not be denied that Hardy found Sturminster the perfect place to write.

He knew William Barnes, and wrote of his distress to visit his friend’s former home and see it ruined.  Hardy would have known Sturminster well.  He was also friends with local professionals, including the solicitor Dashwood. 

Hardy’s wife Emma was lame, and he would walk the fields around the town alone, often lost in thought, he would return home in almost darkness.  But Emma would be waiting for him and from both their diaries, it was apparent that their early days together were full of love.

Much of Hardy’s time in Sturminster Newton was documented in both Hardy’s and Emma’s diaries. Stories of house-maids disappearing with men of ill repute, boat trips on the Stour – all created such vivid imagery from their lyrical prose