The Fiddler of the Reels

A Musical Walk, led by Dr Tony Fincham

Accompanied by Ruth Thompson & Cath McMillan

Date: Wednesday, 29th July 2026

Time: 1.30pm - The coach leaves Top o' Town car park at 1.30pm, returning around 4.30pm.

Cost:  £20 - THS Conference Ticket holders

           £23 - THS Members

           £25 - Non-members

Meet: Top o' Town Car Park to pick up the coach at 1.30pm

Included in the 2026 THS Conference & Festival Programme

Priority booking for Full Conference Ticket Holders

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

Led by Dr Tony Fincham, this tour is a musical exploration of the territory where Mop Ollamoor exercised his acoustic magnetism over Car’line Aspent:

Pick up the coach from Top o' Town car park, then a two-mile walk on footpaths from Stinsford Church through Lower Mellstock and above the Frome to The Traveller’s Rest (Duck Dairy Farm), with dancing as appropriate to the fiddles of Ruth Thompson and Cath McMillan, who will recreate the tunes of this ‘village Paganini’.

Finishing at the Rusty Duck café.

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"She chanced to pause on the bridge near his house to rest herself"

William Hatherell - Scribner's Magazine 13 (May, 1893): page 601

Illustration for Thomas Hardy's "The Fiddler of the Reels"

Scanned image, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham

Event location map

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