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Charleston Farmhouse, view from the pond, photo taken by Andy Scott
THS Bloomsbury Group Literary Weekend in Sussex
TWO PLACES NOW AVAILABLE
The Thomas Hardy Society are excited to announce a weekend of visits and lectures exploring the links between Thomas Hardy and The Bloomsbury Group, with a focus on Virginia Woolf. The weekend will be based in lecture facilities at ‘The Depot’, Lewes, East Sussex.
Highlights will include visits to Virginia Woolf’s Sussex home, Monk’s House at Rodmell, and Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s retreat, Charleston Farmhouse at Firle.
Speakers will include: Rachel Worth, Emerita Professor at The Arts University Bournemouth in coversation with Mark Damon Chutter on ‘The role and representation of clothing in Virginia Woolf’s novels and some comparisons made with representations in Hardy’s novels’, Mark Damon Chutter, Chair of The Thomas Hardy Society, on ‘Virginia Woolf: The Dreadnought Hoax’ and Dr Tony Fincham on ‘Creativity and mental Illness in Relation to Thomas Hardy and Virginia Woolf’.
There will also be an exploration of Virginia Woolf’s tribute to Thomas Hardy written shortly after his death in 1928 and also her diary entry written after her visit to see Thomas and Emma Hardy at Max Gate.
Cost: £160 per person to include all lectures, transport to visits and entry to Monk’s House, Charleston Farmhouse and Charleston galleries at Firle and Lewes.
Once booked the fee in non-refundable but is transferable.
Itinerary
Friday 31st October 2025
12.00-13.00 Welcome and registration The Depot in Lewes and itinerary and introductory literature given.
Self-sourced lunch
13.25 First Mini bus to Rodmell to visit home of Virginia Woolf
13.45 Second Mini Bus to Rodmell
16.00 First Mini Bus returns to The Depot
16.15 Second Mini bus returns to The Depot
17.00pm -18.30pm Introductory lectures at venue.
17.00 Welcome and further information about the weekend.
17.15- 17.45 Lecture : Thomas Hardy and the Bloomsbury Group – Who were they and how were they connected? Lucy Brown
18.00 -18.45 Lecture 2: The Dreadnought Hoax. Mark Chutter
7.15 Dinner at Cote (paid separately).
Saturday 1st November
Meet at 9.15 at The Depot
9.30 First Mini bus to Firle to visit Charleston Farm House.
9.45 Second Mini bus to Firle to visit Charleston Farm House.
(Timed entries from 10.00 am onwards)
Time for house tour, art gallery tour and garden tour. Coffee and food available from café or bring your own picnic.
13.30 First return mini bus to The Depot.
13.45 Second return mini bus to The Depot.
Break
Keynote Events
14.30 -15.15 Rachel Worth in conversation with Mark Chutter on: The role and representation of clothing in Virginia Woolf’s novels with some comparisons made with representations in Hardy’s work.
15.30 -16.45 Dr Tony Fincham on: The lunatic, the lover and the poet’: Virginia Woolf and Thomas Hardy -bipolarity, cyclothymia and creativity.
17.00 -17.30 ‘A Piece of Cake’ – Written and presented by Non Vaughan-O’Hagan.
Followed by Q and A.
19.30 Dinner at Zorbas in Lewes (Paid Separately)
Sunday 2nd November
10.00 Meet for coffee at The Depot
10.20 Creative writing event led by Lucy Brown and Mark Chutter.
OR Self-guided tour of Historic Lewes
11.30 Visit to art galleries at Charleston in Lewes
13.00 Informal group lunch to purchase at Café at Charleston in Lewis gallery or other Lewes venue.
End of Weekend Visit
TWO PLACES NOW AVAILABLE
BOOK NOW
We hope you can join THS members and other literary enthusiasts for our Bloomsbury Group Literary Weekend break in Lewes, Sussex. A traditional English market town, Lewes is also the county town of East Sussex and the administrative centre for the region.
Monk's House is the home of Virginia & Leonard Woolf, where Virginia's writing lodge is still in the garden. Charleston Farmhouse was the home of artists Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister) & Duncan Grant, where John Maynard Keynes wrote much of his classic work, The Economic Consequences of the Peace in 1919. Leslie Stephen, Virginia Woolf’s father was Hardy’s publisher for Far from the Madding Crowd and Virginia Woolf also visited Hardy at Max Gate. When Hardy died in January 1928, she published an essay called Thomas Hardy’s Novels in the Times Literary Supplement as a eulogy.
The Bloomsbury Group was formed by British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, such as Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, and Lytton Strachey. Their works and outlook deeply influenced literature and modern attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality.
The Bloomsbury Group © Tate
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