KINGSTON LKABO MAURWARD A U T KINGSTON POINTS OF INTEREST WALKABOUTS W A P S MAURWARD P E R 2 IL O Originally built in 1720 of WALKABOUT 2 X. 1.6 M WALKABOUTS brick, King George III then Kingston Maurward to Max Gate ‘Park & Stride’ stated he preferred stone, This walk links the Kingston Maurward Estate, on which necessitating rapid and Kingston Maurward to Max Gate expensive cladding of Hardy was raised, with Max Gate, the home he built ‘Park & Stride’ Kingston House to from his literary successes. Hardy loved walking these maintain patronage! routes, and later wrote their features into the journeys of his characters: the bridge where Fanny Robin The Frome’s watermeadows collapsed on her way to Casterbridge workhouse, the are Hardy’s ‘Vale of Great church of the Mellstock quire and the water meadows Dairies’, where Tess where Tess met Angel. Can you spot any others? D’Urbeyfield met Angel Clare. There is a choice of two routes - a shorter one (1.6 miles) Hardy built Max Gate in 1885 or an alternative one via Grey’s Bridge (2.7 miles). and made it his home until his death in 1928. He wrote Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Parking at Kingston Maurward Animal Park and Gardens is free to visitors to the site and users of the Park & Stride. Jude the Obscure whilst here. Appropriate footwear is recommended, since wet or Grey’s Bridge was financed muddy conditions can be encountered at any time. by Mrs Laura Pitt, neé Grey, of Kingston Maurward, to Kingston Maurward Animal Park & Gardens bypass the Fordington Open Daily (Feb – Oct): 10am – 5.30pm (last entry 4.30pm) slums. Hardy portrayed it 01305 215003 www.kmc.ac.uk/gardens/ as the place where the Max Gate (National Trust) melancholic went to Open Daily (Mar – Oct): 11am – 5pm (last entry 4.30pm) contemplate life, whilst 01305 262538 www.nationaltrust.org.uk/max-gate looking down into the river. Dorset County Museum On display in Dorset County Open Mon-Sat (Apr – Oct): 10am – 5pm Museum’s Hardy gallery are 01305 262735 www.dorsetcountymuseum.org/ many of Hardy’s belongings and papers. See websites for more details incl. winter opening hours. Admission charges apply to all three sites. St Michael’s Church is where Hardy’s parents met, These leaflets can be downloaded from his father played in the www.dorsetforyou.com/walkabouts church band and where they, alongside his heart, are now all buried near the yew tree. Working in partnership Photo credits: ©National Trust/Christopher Collins; ©National Trust Images/Chris Lacey LKABO A U KINGSTON MAURWARD TO MAX gate ‘PARK & STRIDE’ STARTING POINT DISTANCE T W A choice of two routes - a shorter one (1.6 miles) or a alternative one Kingston Maurward approximately 2 via Grey’s Bridge (2.7 miles). car park, Stinsford 1.6 miles This walk starts from Kingston Maurward N The Hardys were tenants of the Animal Park and Gardens car park, Kingston Maurward Estate until Stinsford (DT2 8PY). 1912. Hardy’s father was a building The 10-acre gardens, partly developed contractor for the estate, and Hardy in the 1700s with Capability Brown style was first educated in the estate school. parkland, were remodelled in 1918-20 He later used Kingston Maurward by Cecil and Dorothy Hanbury in an as inspiration and setting for his first Arts and Crafts ‘rooms’ style. novel, Desperate Remedies, a dramatic, twisting plot of double marriages, lost relatives and murder! The estate is now home to Kingston Maurward College, one of only two U START P remaining independent specialist land- Kingston based colleges in the South West. Maurward Over 3000 live-in and day students study agriculture, animal sciences, equine studies, floristry, construction and other rural and allied subjects across the 750 acre estate. Dorset County Museum Path liable to flooding KEY Walkabout route Alternative route Hardy Way Gated Other rights of way crossing Points of interest Max P Parking Gate U Café Toilets 200 m 500 ft © Crown copyright and database rights 2016 Ordnance Survey 100019790. You are permitted to use this data solely to enable you to respond to, or interact with, the organisation that provided you with the data. You are not permitted to copy, sub-licence, distribute or sell any of this data to third parties in any form..