Tuesday 28th July 2026
Starts 19:00 until 21:00
The Old Tea House 44 High West Street Dorchester DT1 1UT

A Casterbridge Quiz and Buffet

Test your knowledge of everything Hardy

Date: Tuesday, 28th July 2026

Time: 7.00pm

Cost: £20 (including buffet) THS Conference Ticket Holders

£25 (including buffet) Quiz Evening Only

Venue: The Old Tea House

Included in the 2026 THS Conference & Festival Programme

Priority booking for Full Conference Ticket Holders (Limited places)

Booking Open to others from 2nd June 2026 (Subject to availability)

How much do you know about Thomas Hardy and Wessex? Test your knowledge and pit your wits against other Hardyans.

Join us for a light-hearted and fun, evening event, finding out how much you know about the characters and places in Thomas Hardy’s Wessex.

No prizes just an enthusiastic Huzzah! for the winners.

Buffet included!

Quizmaster Mark Chutter, Chair of The Thomas Hardy Society, will conduct the quiz and the lovely Debbie, owner of the Old Tea House, will provide a delicious buffet for us to nibble in surroundings very familiar to Hardy. The premises first opened as a tea room in 1902, and still uses traditional china, tablecloths, tiered cake stands and home baking, to create the same comfortable and friendly ambience that Hardy experienced when he was a regular visitor.

The property was built in 1635, and is the oldest ‘freestanding house’ in Dorchester. After the penal laws were introduced, Catholics and other nonconformist religious groups were persecuted and the property once provided a ‘safe’ house for the Abbot. It still has underground tunnels, a priest hole and the Abbot’s bible was retrieved from its hiding place in the chimney breast during renovations and is now in Dorset Museum. Over its life-time of almost 400 years, the building has also been a jail, a millinery shop and the home of a 17th Century sea merchant. The building is reputed to be haunted, so be prepared, Thomas Hardy may indeed bless us with his presence!