As it was Sunday Jim thought it was a good idea to visit a bigger town so we settled on Dorchester. It didn’t impress us very much as it was quite dreary. There we had a coffee when we finally found an open café. We browsed in 2 very nice kitchenware shops. I actually got an early Christmas present for someone - I will have to find some way of reminding myself that I have it. We had a look into St. Peter’s Church - it was about midday and the service had started at 10.30. However, it was still packed as they seem to take the opportunity after service for tea and fellowship! A very talkative man welcomed us and suggested that we help ourselves to tea/coffee. We smiled and thanked him and beat a hasty retreat.
This is one of the oldest buildings in Dorchester and was the lodgings of Judge Jeffreys who is linked with one of the most notorious and controversial episodes in the history of Dorchester - the Bloody Assizes, where he handed down sentences for 251 rebels. Only 74 of these executions took place but their brutality ensured their place in memory. The inside of this building is now a restaurant.
It was too early to go home so we continued to Shaftesbury. Before we got there the rain had started and had become quite a downpour so we had no intention of subjecting ourselves to that. We turned for home but when the rain stopped rather than waste the journey we decided to see some of the places associated with Thomas Hardy. First stop was Hardy’s Cottage. This involved a 15 minute walk from the Centre either by the Bridle Path which was mucky (because of the rain) and not very level underfoot, or by the track through the woods which had quite an incline but offered a bit more shelter should it rain again. We took the woodland path which was not as hilly as the girl at the centre had suggested. Having got to the cottage we went to the woodshed to watch the video of life at Hardy’s time. This was very interesting. However, the rain had started again and according to the father of a family it looked like it was going to last for hours because of the direction from which it was coming. He and his daughter took ages to persuade the mother - who had no coat and whose 3 children were in the same position, to leave the wood shed and head for their car. We lingered in the woodshed but there was no sign of the rain letting up so we dashed to the cottage which was the birthplace of Thomas Hardy and his childhood home. There, the guide allowed us to make ourselves comfortable at the smoky wood fire as she proceeded to tell us some of the history of the Hardy family. She was very impressed by Hardy’s mother. Anyway it was very interesting. Then we took a tour of the cottage.
It was still bucketing so we had no option but to put up our hoods and get wet, very wet, soaked through! A shower proof is exactly that and is not equipped to withstand a downpour. It reminded us of our walk round Dove Lake in Tasmania, only there the sun came out and dried us. We were still wet when we got home 45 minutes later having gone as far as Max Gate but having decided that it might not be a good idea to drip our way through the house.
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