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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Open Country

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Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Thomas Hardy's Dorset

Thomas Hardy's Dorset

06/08/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Thomas Hardy's Dorset

Helen Mark visits the landscapes of Thomas Hardy's life, death and literature in Dorset.

It is 175 years since Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton in Dorset. Helen Mark visits the landscape that features throughout his writing and where his heart remains.

Thomas Hardy is one of England's most enduring writers. 175 years after his birth a new film of 'Far From the Madding Crowd' has recently been released and like the original version from 1967 it features scenes shot in the beautiful Dorset countryside. For Hardy the heathland, forests and rivers which surrounded his birthplace at Higher Bockhampton near Dorchester were more than a backdrop. Landscape in Hardy's novel is central to the narrative and it is his vivid descriptions of the stunning setting in which he grew up that lend authenticity and magic to what he wrote. Helen Mark visits Dorset to discover the countryside which Hardy disguised as 'Wessex' in novels such as 'Tess of the D'urbervilles', 'Return of the Native', 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' and 'Jude the Obscure' and hears how this landscape is now inspiring new writers in their work.

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