Beyond Egdon Dorset
Hardys fictional territory is the outward extension of a very narrow landscape centred on his birthplace at Higher Bockhampton. Beyond Egdon lies a fertile landscape nourished by the waters of the Frome (The Valley of the Great Dairies) and the Piddle (Weatherbury, Longpuddle, Kingsbere and Millpond St Jude). This is Hardys childhood stamping ground and the countryside of his core fiction including Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Woodlanders and The Mayor of Casterbridge, as well as the short stories The Waiting Supper, The Three Strangers and A Few Crusted Characters.