♪♪ -The spectacular British landscape has inspired generations of our greatest writers and nowhere more than Dorset.

Thomas Hardy.

He's the absolute Dorset essence of literature.

With a rucksack full of my favorite fiction, I'm heading off to discover Dorset's literary landscape to find out what fired the imagination of these great storytellers.

But I'm not going it alone.

You look like you're in a Rod Stewart video.

-[ Laughs ] -I'm hooking up with an old pal, the lovely Martin Clunes.

Now, he's a world class traveler and a massive book fan like me.

-There it is, Durdle Door.

-But he's never explored Dorset.

Which is odd because he does live here.

Cheers.

-And here we go.

Ah.

-Wowzers.

It's the place the illustrious Thomas Hardy called home.

Where Enid Blyton's Famous Five had all sorts of adventures.

And it's the setting for some of today's best-selling modern classics.

Through our shared love of literature, we're going to let the books be our guide and together explore Dorset's most breathtaking scenery.

Out of these pages and into -- into this.

♪♪ ♪♪ I'm meeting Martin in the picturesque seaside port Lyme Regis, the setting for the romantic classic "The French Lieutenant's Woman," a book that has one of the most intriguing characters in literature, Sarah Woodruff, in a story of forbidden love.

Oh!

The smell is good.

You've got that lovely bookshop-y smell which just not smell like anything else.

This is weird but I'm gonna do this.

[ Sniffs ] Oh!

Yes.

I love the smell of a book.

Ah, now.

She's here.

So, this is the film poster for "The French Lieutenant's Woman."

Very famous film.

Absolutely a cluster of Oscar nominations for that.

It was in the '80s based on the book by John Fowles.

But it's not the book.

It's the film of the book starring the beautiful Meryl Streep, looking very winsome yet tragic, yet purposeful in the iconic black cloak.

And there she is having a snog on the cobb, which is here in Lyme Regis.

Brilliant.

Jeremy Irons, bit sinister.

Let's just get that out there.

Little bit sinister.

Never liked him.

♪♪ And this is the famous cobb but where, oh, where is my leading man?

♪♪ -Mel!

[ Laughs ] -Martin!

[ Both laugh ] How lovely to see you.

-What a lovely cape.

-Hang on, let me just get out of character.

-Okay.

Shake and shake.

-Shake.

Is that how you do it?

-How are you, mate?

-Hello, hello.

Oh!

-Haven't seen you for a very long time.

-So like -- You haven't changed.

-Yeah.

So have you.

Well -- [ Laughs ] -You haven't.

You look amazing.

I might decloak.

-Okay.

-If that's the right word.

I've brought my sack of Dorset books.

I need the glasses these days, Martin.

-Yeah, I've got mine.

-Got yours?

-Yeah.

-Got 'em on chains?

-No, not yet.

-Oh, now I can see you properly.

-The antique dealer look.

Yes, I have aged.

[ Laughs ] -You haven't, that's the thing.

You look super healthy, Martin.

How long have you lived in Dorset?

25?

25?

-25 years, yeah.

-Were you trying to get away from me?

Because that literally is the last time I saw you.

[ Both laugh ] -Was it?

No.

-Dorset is so full of sort of -- of literary stuff, of film stuff, everything.

We're gonna stick with the literary.

-Okay.

-I've got my sack of books.

-Okay.

-But look at all that.

That's just Dorset, Martin.

-Yes.

-Feel the weight of Dorset.

-But what's funny is people, 'cause there's no motorway in Dorset.

It's one of the few counties in England that doesn't have a motorway.

-Oh, yeah.

-Everybody whizzes along the top on their way to Devon and Cornwall.

-Yeah.

-And we kind of like it that way.

When I first moved down here, "Do you like it here?"

I said, "Yes, I do, sir."

He said, "Well, don't tell your friends."

[ Both laugh ] And it is a sort of secret.

-That's so good.

Now you see, Martin, the thing about this wind, I'm imagining it's an easterly.

Am I right?

-It's a northeasterly I think, yeah, yeah.

-Northeasterly.

It's good for you.

You look like you're in a Rod Stewart video.

[ Both laugh ] -Again.

-You've got the... For me, not so good.

Exactly.

Exactly.

There's so much to do.

Shall we -- Shall we go?

-Come on, let's get up.

-Let's get an ice cream.

I'll bring my cloak.

-It is good to see you.

It's really lovely to see you.

-It's lovely to see you.

-When I think back -- -25 years.

-25 years.

♪♪ -What're we crossing there?

Oh, it's just a road.

From Lyme Regis, we're heading West across the county.

For the great Victorian writer Thomas Hardy, Dorset became Wessex, the semi-fictional setting for some of the greatest works in English literature.

-Well, I met a lady who was in his theater company.

-What the hell?

-Yeah.

-And remembered him really well?

-Yes, she was -- That was her party trick.

Remembering Thomas Hardy.

-Martin's taking me to his favorite secret spot that has a Hardy connection.

-If we pull up quite soon, there's something I'd like to show you.

I mean that in a nice way.

-I was gonna say.

-That was a bit sinister.

-The way you said that.

"There's something I'd, uh, like to show you."

-"There'd something I'd like to show you."

Zip.

[ Both laugh ] -Don't make me laugh.

Eggardon Hill is an Iron Age hill fort, the gateway to the heart of Thomas Hardy's Wessex.

It's where Martin likes to get away from it all and walk one of his five dogs.

-Here we go, come, Bob.

-Lovely.

Today it's handsome cocker spaniel Bob Jackson.

I feel that we're at the real heart of Hardy's Wessex.

-He must have come up here, mustn't here?

-Yeah.

[ Both laugh ] -And he called this -- I think he called this Haggerdon, Hegd-- No.

-Or he sort of nicked the name and changed it, didn't he?

-Slightly.

He often did that, didn't he?

-Yeah.

-This county is just too much.

So beautiful.

-Look this view as it develops.

-Hardy wrote about Eggardon Hill in many of his novels and poems with its commanding views of Wessex.

He was inspired by Dorset's landscape, history and nature.

-What I'm glad to see hasn't changed in all the years since I haven't been here is that it's really Dorset in that it is, you know, one of the best-preserved Iron Age fortresses in the country but there's no visitors' center, there's no car park, no ice-cream stall or anything.

It's just, well, it's up there if you want it.

[ Both laugh ] -Hardy also loved dogs and he had one particular mischievous fox terrier that he affectionately called Wessex.

He even wrote two poems about him.

And there's a really sweet little thing I found out is that Hardy's dog Wessex was [Chuckles] was a bit of a nipper, bit of a growler and would guard his master quite sort of vociferously.

And he met T. Lawrence, old Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, and T. Lawrence approached and Wessex loved T. Lawrence.

-Ah, there you go.

-So Hardy thought... -Oh, he thought he was a good man.

-You're a person worth knowing" and they became friends.

-Oh, as quick as that?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, wow.

-T.E.

Lawrence also lived in Dorset where he wrote his famous memoir "Seven Pillars of Wisdom."

His life was immortalized in epic film "Lawrence of Arabia," starring Peter O'Toole.

Did you ever meet Peter O'Toole?

-I did.

-Ah.

-I met him and he said, "Clunesy, I was very pleased with you in 'Shakespeare in Love,'" and then he started doing my lines from "Shakespeare in Love" to me.

He was just -- It just bl-- It just sort of took my legs away.

Blew me away.

-Oh!

-And Emily was just one and Peter said, "You must be so proud."

And as we were walking together he, as if he was taking me by the hand, he took me by the left ear.

-What?

-And we walked all the way up the fields and then to the set.

[ Both laugh ] He was just heaven.

He was everything I wanted him to be.

-That's -- How long did he -- -Oh, a long -- like all the way.

-Oh, that's brilliant.

Oh, how wonderful.

It's so f-- So, T. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy crossing over.

O'Toole, Clunesy crossing over.

-[ Laughs ] Very much.

-I love it.

-In an echo.

-Shall we walk on then, Clunesy?

-Come on then, Bob, come, Bob.

-Would you hold my left ear lobe, please?

-Come on.

-I'd really like that.

-You must be so proud.

-[ Chuckles ] It's actually quite comforting.

-[ Laughs ] I know.

-Imagine it was Peter O'Toole.

-Oh, it's lovely.

-How great he would -- Linguine!

[ Both laugh ] -I'm sort of weakening.

I like it.

I like it.

We're traveling along the coast to Durdle Door, which played a crucial role in one of my favorite love stories and Hardy's first literary hit, "Far From the Madding Crowd."

♪♪ -Hey, Siri, open the compass, please.

Do you say please to Siri?

-I don't know how to use Siri.

I know she's there.

-Oh, we're heading east.

Oh, I use it all the time.

Yeah.

And I have a couple of gates on the farm I can open with the phone and I say to Siri... -"Open the gate."

-Yes, but 'cause I'm a twat, a child, I've labeled each gate over the con-- you know, like a contact in your contacts.

And, you know, it says home or mobile or whatever, I've customized that to say... [Chuckles] ...gate eight is "you wanker" and gate nine is "you bellend."

So I go, "Siri, call gate nine."

And she goes, "Calling gate nine, you wanker."

[ Laughs ] -Oh!

♪♪ -The Jurassic Coast has impressive rock formations and towering cliffs that jut out into the English Channel.

It's also dotted with hidden coves, most famously Lulworth Cove.

Or as Hardy reimagined it, Lulwind Cove.

I see what he did there.

♪♪ Here, the dastardly Frank Troy, married to the fabulously named Bathsheba Everdene, takes an impromptu dip and is swiftly swept out to sea and presumed drowned.

♪♪ So following in the wake of Frank, we're heading out to the rocks of Durdle Door to fulfill a little fantasy of mine, rereading that tempestuous scene right where it took place.

It's incredible.

-There it is, Durdle Door.

-Wow.

-Look at that, beautiful emerald felt draped over chalk cliffs.

You can see why old Hardy was inspired to write about it.

If I could write or had something to write, I'd try and write about that.

-And this is where blooming what's-his-face Frank Troy met a liquid-y end or did he?

-Right here.

-Ooh.

Are you not feeling this, Clunesy?

-No, I'm okay.

Yeah.

Are you suffering?

-Ooh.

Oh!

There she blows, lovely.

That's got the bile rising.

-Oh, Mel.

[ Laughs ] Let's see what he said about it all.

-So, it's "Far From the Madding Crowd," Bathsheba has gone for Frank over Gabriel Oak.

She's gone for the wild man over the nice, steady Oaky guy.

He's gone out into Lulworth Cove... -So, here we go.

-Yeah, go on.

"He descended and came to a small basin of sea enclosed by the cliffs.

Troy's nature freshened within him.

He thought he'd rest and breathe here before going farther.

He undressed and plunged in.

And to get a little of the ocean swell, Troy presently swam between the two projecting spurs of rock which formed the Pillars of Hercules to this miniature Mediterranean.

Unfortunately for Troy a current unknown to him existed outside.

Troy found himself carried to the left and then around in a swoop out to sea."

Well, I'm afraid he actually doesn't drown.

He gets saved by some sailors who haul him up into their boat.

So you sort of think the baddie of the peace is gonna...

But he doesn't.

Bit more compl-- I'm gonna have to look at a fixed point, Clunesy.

-You do that, baby, yeah.

-Sorry, my love.

Ooh!

Not gonna lie, mate, there's, uh, there's a chunder, chundercats are go.

-"And she fell."

-No!

-"But not to the ground.

A gloomy man who'd been observing --" that's me -- "from under the portico of the old corn exchange when she passed through the group without stepped quickly to her side at the moment of her exclamation and caught her in his arms as she sank down.

-Ooh!

Was beautiful reading.

Ohhh!

Let's go to land.

Let's go back to Dorset, come on.

Oh!

-Oh, boy.

Here we go, Mel.

Welcome to Dorset.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ -Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick.

-Are you really?

Do you want to go at the back?

♪♪ Here we go, the Pillars of Hercules to this miniature Mediterranean.

Frank Troy can go and do one.

[ Blows raspberry ] -[ Laughs ] -Ohh!

-Well, you haven't puked yet.

-That's coming.

I'll puke up in the break.

Yeah?

When the ads are on, I'll have a really good old chunder.

♪♪ Local resident Martin Clunes and I are in Dorset searching out places that appear in some of my favorite books.

Can't wait.

-Lovely.

-As a geeky 9-year-old girl in Leatherhead, I would secretly climb under the covers and escape with Julian, Dick, Anne, George and of course Timmy the dog, to uncover treasure and spoil the plots of dastardly enemy spies until my mum found me and told me to stop reading and turn the lights out.

We're heading for Norden.

-Oh, yeah.

-Norden station.

Those books were, of course, written by Enid Blyton, who wrote them here in Dorset.

She was inspired by the stunning landscape of the Isle of Purbeck where she would holiday three times a year.

-Oh, so this is how we got to -- this is how we came to Dorset.

We went to a wedding on the Isle of Purbeck and then the next day we were driving round saying, "Isn't it nice round here?"

-[ Gasps ] It all began here, Martin.

-It all began right here.

-Your Dorset adventure.

-Yes.

-And here we go.

-And here we go, yeah.

-Wowzers.

And as if today couldn't get any better, we'll board another secret passion of mine, trains.

It's full steam ahead.

-Ah.

Oh, is it?

-Yeah.

Not any trains.

Steam trains.

I love trains.

-Do you?

-Yes.

I love a good train schedule.

-This is the railway.

-There's the little railway.

-Never knew this was here.

-The Swanage Railway runs the length of the Isle of Purbeck.

It's on this branch line that Enid would come to Dorset, traveling through the scenery that would become a fixture of her books.

Today the branch line is run by an army of volunteers and enthusiasts.

[ Wheels screeching ] -Hello!

Goodness me.

-Hello.

Oh!

-How lovely to meet you.

-So nice to meet you.

Jo.

-It is.

Jo, yes.

-Hello, Jo.

How are you doing?

-Hello, lovely to meet you.

I'm great, thank you.

-That's the best uniform I've ever seen.

-Thank you.

-I'm actually quite jealous.

-How long have you been volunteering?

-10 years.

I absolutely love it.

-Oh, do you?

-Yeah.

-Where does it go?

-It goes to Corfe.

Enid Blyton based a lot of her stories there.

-Yeah.

-She was a big fan and she used to stay in the area.

I once slept in a room that Enid Blyton wrote a book in.

[ Whistle blows ] Oh, excuse me, sorry.

I'm really sorry but we actually need to get on board.

-Oh, hello.

-We need to go now.

Ready?

-It's lovely to meet you.

-Yeah, lovely to meet you too.

-Lovely to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you, Jo.

-Take care.

-See ya.

♪♪ [ Train whistle blows ] ♪♪ -[ Gasps ] Oh, my goodness.

-[ Laughing ] -The windows are so big.

-And they open.

-And I lo-- The seats are really spongy.

-There's some -- This all looks new, doesn't it?

-Oh, look, somebody's have a picnic.

People are waving at us, oh, my goodness.

-Waving at the train.

♪♪ -We've got, Enid style-y, we've got some sandwiches.

-Oh, God.

-Good sanger, isn't it?

-It's a real good sanger.

More luxurious than Enid would've had I reckon.

-She'd have had some dry tongue.

-I was gonna say tongue.

Lashings of ginger beer.

Lovely.

-Lovely.

-Yeah, yeah, gorgeous.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Lovely.

-[ Coughs ] -[ Laughs ] -[ Sneezes ] -Yoo-hoo!

[ Laughs ] -That made me sneeze.

♪♪ -Right.

-Couple of the old Enid Blyton books.

-"Five Go off to Camp."

"Five Have Plenty of Fun."

That's a good title, isn't it?

What are we gonna call this one?

[ Laughs ] My mother would forgive me for saying that she was something of a literary snob.

But we didn't get Enid Blyton or anything Disney either.

She wasn't keen on anything, my mum, on anything really child-centric.

-Ah, okay.

-She sort of couldn't bear it.

-Okay.

She thought it was twee or she thought it was... -Yes, or just sort of playing down, you know.

-Yeah.

-We'd never -- The idea of taking us to Disneyland would've done her in.

She took us to antique shops.

Imagine on holidays... [ Laughs ] [ Wheels screeching ] -Wowzers.

-Look at this.

I didn't know this was here though.

Chapter 1 at Kirrin cottage, "'I feel as if we'd been at Kirrin for about a month already,' said Anne, stretching herself out on the warm sand and digging her toes in, 'and we've only just come.'"

-I like the way you pronounce Kirrin, Kirrin.

-Kirrin.

-Kirrin.

-"'Yes, it's funny how we settled down at Kirrin so quickly,' said Dick.

'We only came yesterday and I agree with you, Anne.

It seems as if we've been here for ages.

I love Kirrin.'"

[ Both laugh ] -Is that the first time you've read any Enid Blyton?

-Yes, yes, yeah.

-What do you make of it?

Do you like?

-It's actually quite... [ Laughs ] I already want to know what's gonna happen.

-Do you?

[ Both laugh ] [ Train whistle blows ] Enid Blyton would often write up to 50 books a year.

-Wow.

I mean these, you know, these are good fun and kids to this day romp through them.

There's quite a lot of question marks about, you know, Enid Blyton's sort of... -Oh, are they getting rewritten?

Are they getting censored?

-There is a bit of that going on, yeah.

-I think I heard something about that, yes.

-Yeah, yeah.

She was quite an extraordinary person.

Complicated.

Especially these days with our sort of, you know, more sensitive times.

-Oh, she was complicated, was she?

-Hmm.

Yeah, her dad abandoned the family.

-Oh, did he?

-She was very traumatized by it, and people say that she sort of poured her lack of childhood into... -Oh, I see.

-...this kind of idyllic... -Yes, functional.

-...slightly fantasized version.

Yeah, exactly.

♪♪ -Look here's Corfe castle.

-Oh, my.

This is the setting for "Five on a Treasure Island," where they discover a treasure map and must outwit some smugglers to uncover the loot.

Enid calls it Kirrin Island.

Martin Clunes calls it Kirrin Island.

Sorry, there's a railway carriage wearing pajamas.

-Please.

Wow.

-In sleepy Dorset.

Even the trains have pajamas.

♪♪ From Corfe Castle, we head down to St. Oswald's Bay on the southwest coastal path.

-On, um... On "Shakespeare in Love," Ben Affleck came in, you know, handsomest man in the world like that.

-Oh, wow.

-He had a tiny codpiece.

I had the biggest codpiece in that film.

-And rightly so.

-Bless you.

-Mine was like a big Cornish pasty.

Affleck, chipolata.

-Mini sausage roll.

-Mini sausage roll.

-Was he annoyed?

-I think he was pretty impervious at that point.

He was going out with Gwyneth.

-Yeah.

-He was really nice actually.

I liked him.

-Aww.

-And we knew Gwyneth because Philippa produced "Sliding Doors."

-Of course she ruddy did.

What do you make of the vaginal candle?

Sorry.

Just gonna put it out there.

-I can't -- I can't light it.

♪♪ -The path is Britain's longest national trail, a staggering 630 miles long.

It's the setting for the number-one best seller "The Salt Path."

Both Martin and I are huge fans of this book.

Neither of us could put it down.

Nor could the hundreds of thousands of other readers that kept it as Sunday Times' best seller for two years.

Just days after the author, Raynor Winn, learns that her husband, Moth, is terminally ill with a degenerate brain disease, they lose their home and livelihood.

With nothing left but each other, they took the impulsive decision to walk the entire southwest coastal path, from Somerset through Devon, Cornwall and ending here in Dorset, where Raynor has returned to meet us.

You got socks on, Martin?

-Have I got socks on?

-You got socks on?

-Yeah.

-I've gone sockless.

-Are you?

-Look at this.

Beautiful.

-Socksy.

Oh, look at that.

-Oh, look.

Shall we?

Just a little... -Just a pause.

-Interesting.

-Oh, look at -- [ Wood cracks ] That was, uh... -Oh, God.

-Hand whittled by Nelson's mother.

-Mate, what's happened?

-Just keep moving.

Nobody saw.

-We can't just keep moving.

What the hell?

♪♪ Hello.

-Oh, hi.

Good to see you here.

-Sorry, you went for the shake.

I'm going...

I'm sorry.

-Oh, go on, go for it.

[ Laughter ] Oh, how nice to meet you.

-I love you so much.

-Hi, Raynor.

Hi, hi.

-This is Martin.

-Hi.

Nice to meet you too.

We just broke a chair.

Well, Mel did.

-It was w-- There was k-- it was me.

-There we go.

-I can't believe it's you.

This is really amazing.

I was obsessed with the book and we're meeting here on the actual path.

-On the path.

-Did you camp very close to here when you were... -Yes, really close.

Yeah, just up there.

You can see where the path rises up after Durdle Door.

-Yeah.

-Just inland it sort of, like, curves round on a -- on a sort of like high piece, and we were just up there.

Yeah, it's so lovely to be back here.

♪♪ ♪♪ -What prompted you to think "I'm gonna write this down"?

'Cause it wasn't straightaway, was it?

-No.

It was about two years after we stopped walking.

Moth was losing so many memories and that was part of, um, the illness that he suffers from.

Was as he became more stationary and he wasn't moving, then that illness was actually taking more and more hold on him.

-Really?

-So I started to write down his notes that he'd made in the margins of the guide book with the intention that when he read it he would feel as if he was right there.

-Right.

-Right there on the path next to me.

So I wrote it, printed it off, tied it up with string and gave it to him for his birthday.

And that's all it was.

It's all it was meant to be.

-So how did it get to a publisher?

-Well, my daughter was with us at the time because it was Moth's birthday.

She said, "You know, you should do something with it, Mum.

It's not bad."

So then I thought actually maybe then.

I have got something I can take forwards.

-And how is Moth now?

-He's really good at the moment actually.

-Is he?

-Yes.

-And I don't want this you to sound trite or anything but would you say that walking saved him?

-Oh, without a doubt.

-Yeah.

-Without a doubt.

If we hadn't taken that walk at that time, just after he'd had that diagnosis, I don't know where his health would be now.

Because it was declining very quickly.

That was the diagnosis was that it would continue to decline because there was no treatment and there's no cure.

-Raynor, we love your book so much it's in the -- it's in the special green sack of Dorset legends.

-Oh, wonderful.

-Would you mind rea-- would you mind reading something for us?

-Yeah, yeah, love to.

-Be amazing.

I have to put my glasses on so I can see it.

There's a couple of bits that I think are really relevant to what we've just been talking about actually.

We went down into Lyme Regis and there was a moment there where we started to realize that we had to accept his illness.

The highs and the lows of whatever it brought.

So maybe I'll read you that bit from Lyme Regis.

-Amazing, yeah.

-"Living with a death sentence, having no idea when it will be enacted is to straddle a void.

Every word or gesture, every breath of wind or drop of rain matters to a painful degree.

For now we had moved outside of that.

Moth was on death row.

But he'd been granted the right to appeal.

He knew CBD hadn't miraculously disappeared.

But somehow, for a while, it was held at bay.

While we had space to think clearly, when death wasn't hanging around the tent like a malevolent stalker, a thing to fear, Moth felt he had to say it.

'When it does come, the end, I want you to have me cremated.'

There had been a spot in the back field on our farm near the hedge with a view of the mountains where we said we'd be buried.

In the days when we thought it would be our home forever.

But now there was no field, no place where he felt he could safely be left.

'Because I want you to keep me in a box somewhere.

Then when you die, the kids can put you in, give us a shake and send us on our way together.

It's bothered me more than anything else.

The thought of us being apart.

They can let us go on the coast, in the wind and we'll find the horizon together.'

I hung on to him, too choked to speak.

It had been said.

Death had been acknowledged."

-Wow.

-Sad but it was such a special place because just coming to terms with that is a huge step I think.

-It's a lovely wish too, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Yeah, not bad.

Just being let go into the wind I think... -Find the horizon together.

-Yeah.

-A beautiful reminder of the fragility of our lives against the unending and immortal landscape of the salt path.

♪♪ I'm on a literary adventure in Dorset with my old friend and local lad Martin Clunes, exploring Britain by the book.

We're heading to the county town Dorchester or as Thomas Hardy called it in his books Casterbridge.

Max Gate was Thomas Hardy's home for 40 years until his death in 1928.

-All I've seen before is his little cottage in the woods, which is very modest.

This is kind of handsome, isn't it?

-It's where at the height of his fame he wrote his most celebrated novel, "Tess of the D'Ubervilles."

Let's do it.

[ Bell rings ] We've got an appointment with National Trust guide Chris.

-Hello.

-Hi, hi, hi.

-Hello.

-I'm Martin.

-Hi, Martin.

-Hi.

This is Mel.

-Hi, Mel.

-Mel.

♪♪ -He was very famous.

-He was incredibly famous.

-His books were selling by the truck load.

-But he was so famous and there was a problem.

Because people kept on sneaking up his driveway and take a look at him.

And of course for someone so private, he didn't like that.

So he decided to shut them out and he did it like this.

-Brilliant.

-Ooh.

-If someone knocked on his door and he didn't want to see them, he would sneak out through the side door, go out through the side gate and wait behind the wall and the servants would say, "Sorry, Mr. Hardy isn't at home."

-So nobody had to lie.

-So no one had to lie.

-Wow.

-Because he was very keen on not lying.

-Was he?

-Apparently yes.

-We could use him these days, couldn't we?

-Yeah.

-Where are you taking us, Chris?

-I think I'll take you to the study where he wrote "Tess of the D'Ubervilles."

-"Tess" is the tragic story of an innocent young woman betrayed by the men in her life with heartbreaking consequences.

So much to say about this room, guys.

-This is such a dark room.

-It's really grim.

-It is.

-I suppose that's a good way of writing and... -Focusing.

-...and not being seen by all the people coming to the end of your driveway.

I mean, I'm not surprised that "Tess" is quite a depressing book if it was written in this room.

-Yes.

I don't like that picture much with the dead horse.

-That's the whole inciting incident for "Tess of the D'Ubervilles," isn't it?

She's driving the horse.

It dies.

She feels so guilty, she thinks, "I've got to try and earn some money for the family" because the horse was their livelihood.

It's awful.

The whole -- Oh, my God, Tess.

The whole thing is just... -It was all cooked up in this gloomy room.

So he'd have been looking at that beech tree though, wouldn't he?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

That very one.

-Yeah.

-[ Gasps ] That's amazing.

So Hardy would've looked at those exact beech trees.

-Yeah.

-That's incredible.

I find that really quite moving in a way.

I'm a lady novelist, Chris.

I need some inspiration.

So I shall look at the same beech trees that Thomas Hardy did.

-And come up with a nice gloomy book.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ Is it working?

You getting any, um... -Shh.

-Oh, I beg your pardon.

-Don't disturb the moment, please.

-Wow.

-He was a private man.

But Hardy did allow the Hardy Players, an amateur dramatics society, to put on adaptations of his novels in the grounds.

Made up of locals, they gained national prominence when Hardy permitted them to stage a version of "Tess of the D'Ubervilles," which gained rave reviews in the Times.

And today the current players will be putting on a special performance of that play with two guest stars.

Well, one star and one person just very excited to be in period costume.

♪♪ [ Sighs deeply ] -It's a lovely day for it.

-Yeah.

-Ladies.

-As a teenager, I was a little obsessed with Tess.

So to be given the part is a dream come true.

-The three dairy maids who've been there long term, they all are drooling over Angel.

Tess is a little bit separate.

-Darlings, what's my motivation?

Just -- Just very -- in a nutshell.

-You're shy.

You're innocent.

-I want to see you struggling with shy, to be honest.

[ Laughs ] -Are we doing accents?

-We are doing accents.

How's your Dorset accent?

-Give it a go.

We're doing accents apparently.

-Oh, boy, I am.

I'm waiting in the wings, my dear.

I haven't come on yet.

You'll know when I have.

Carry on.

-Oh, oh, here.

-Don't push.

You can see him as well as I.

-Oh, dear eyes, dear face.

Dear Mr. Clare.

I'd marry him tomorrow.

-So would I.

-And I too.

-We can't all marry him.

-Well, shan't any of us?

-Why not?

-'Cause he likes Tess D'Uberville best.

I've watched him every day and I found it out.

-'Tis nonsense.

I hardly know him, nor anything about him.

-He be a parson's son and is the dairy man's pupil.

He be learning farming and all its branches.

-Well, I'm sure he'd be much taken up with his own thoughts to notice girls.

-Come on, my dears!

You're all late and the cows are run dry!

Get a move on!

-[ Laughs ] Alright, Mr. Crick.

-Come on now.

-Don't shout at us.

-Trot on.

-Right.

We're taking our bow.

-Oh.

-Some applause would help.

[ Applause ] Oh, thanks.

Oh, thanks.

-[ Laughs ] ♪♪ I had to really raise my game.

They were ruddy good.

-They were great, weren't they?

-Yeah, brilliant.

-Yeah.

I'll be honest.

I didn't really like my smock.

-Didn't like the smock.

-I was objectified.

Luckily I had that hat to add some dignity to things, you know.

♪♪ -Hardy was deeply inspired by the rural landscape and its customs.

One subject appears frequently in his novels.

He enjoyed the odd tipple, cider.

Oh, my God.

Wowzers.

The story of Tess and Angel Clare falling in love at a dairy farm is set against the backdrop of cider making.

We're meeting Joe, who's getting married in a week, and he's invited us to taste some of his traditionally made Dorset cider.

There he is.

-Hey, Joe.

-Hello.

-How do you do?

-Very well.

Pleasure to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

-Hey, Joe.

Thanks for having us.

-Oh, it's my pleasure.

-Great to see you.

-Pleasure, good to see you.

Couldn't have picked a better day for it, could you?

-No, it's lovely.

-Cider.

We've got plenty of that.

-We could not talk about Thomas Hardy and not indulge in some good old ruddy Dorset cider.

So if that's alright with you, Joe.

-Pleasure.

-Have you got time?

You're getting married any second, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-When are you getting married?

-We've got a week and a bit to go.

Um, and there's plenty to do yet.

-So, Joe, I -- sorry, I get very nosy about weddings.

Can we see where you're gonna be married?

-I can show you that.

-Cool.

-Yes, please.

-Yeah.

It's a work in progress, so don't judge me.

-Alright, we're not gonna judge you.

-You've got a week to go, Joe.

-You're gonna give us cider.

Why would we judge you?

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ -You're gonna have it in here?

-Tables over there.

Jus think potential.

-[ Laughs ] -There's a bit of...

There's a bit of a nostril thing going on.

Bit of a -- Yeah, it's hanging.

-But you'll be losing that pile, won't you?

That'll go.

-Yeah, that pile'll be gone.

-Yeah.

He's gonna get all this -- -Oh, for God's sake.

-You're not gonna leave that down there.

-I just worry about her beautiful long dress that might be trailing.

-Hmm, yeah, I hadn't really thought about that.

-I think it's gonna be lovely in here.

-Yes.

-I think it's gonna be lovely.

-Yeah, incredible.

-Once you get the...up.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ -Can I open one?

-Yeah.

-Can I get going?

-Please do.

-Which?

-I would say -- Yeah, that's -- -I like a sparkles.

Is that a sparkles?

-That's a good one to start with.

5%.

Medium.

-Ooh.

-And it's clean and crisp and it's what we do the most of.

[ Laughter ] -In one.

[LAUGHS] Joe.

Yeah.

-Joe, are you gonna have some as well?

Or is it a bit... -No, no, you know.

Proof's in the pudding.

-Yeah, okay.

-Thank you very much.

Whoa, leave some for yourself.

-Well, I'll have another bottle.

Do you see my thinking?

Do you see how that's worked out?

I've got a straw in my pocket.

-Oh, right.

-What's that one?

-That looks a bit -- That looks a bit, um... -Oh, Thomas Hardy cider.

-Oh, look!

And on the bottle!

On the bottle, "cider's a great thing, a great thing to me."

-Thomas Hardy.

-Thomas Hardy.

-You're not gonna believe this, Joe.

In my literary bag of Dorset goodies I've got...

I'm such a geek.

I've got that very poem.

-Good job.

-Right there.

Would you?

-"Sweet cider is a great thing, a great thing to me."

I hate actors reading poems.

-Come on.

-"A great thing to me, spinning down to Weymouth town by Ridgway thirstily.

A maid and mistress summoning who tend the hostelry.

O, cider is a great thing, a great thing to me."

[ Laughter ] -Cheers.

-Cheers, guys.

-Thank you very much.

-Have you written a speech?

-No, I haven't.

-You've got seven days.

Write the speech.

-That's really lovely.

-That is lovely.

-So you wish you had more now, don't you?

-Yeah, I do, yeah.

Little shake.

[ Laughter ] I'm not allowed cider at home because it gives me opinions.

-Right.

-How many ciders do you have to have before you get an opinion?

Just so we know.

-Well, it depends what you call a cider.

-Ooh.

[ Laughter ] Listen.

The double-handed, the double-handed.

-Get it in there.

-Joe, here's to you, here's to Thomas Hardy, here's to Kate, here's to the wedding in seven days, Joe.

Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Smash.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ -Where are we going now?

Do you know?

-I think we're going into another century.

It's my feeling.

-Ah, Yeovil.

-I'm excited to be taking Martin to our next destination, Chesil Beach, because it's a place I hold dear to my heart.

I went there on my honeymoon.

This gorgeous pebble beach stretches for 18 miles with the English Channel one side and a lagoon the other.

It's also the setting for one of the most heartbreaking books I've ever read, "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan.

It is very, very beautiful.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Nominated for the Booker Prize, it's also about a young inexperienced couple on their wedding night.

The story centers around a failed attempt to consummate the marriage.

I mean, on Chesil Beach, good for the thighs.

-Yeah, I'm sure there's a right way to do it.

-Well, when Florence in "Chesil Beach" in the book runs out of the hotel, I -- There's a description of her, I mean, like, pelting down Chesil Beach.

I can't really see that happening.

-She wouldn't have traveled far.

-No.

I mean, unlike the real Chesil Beach, the book "On Chesil Beach" is not a relaxing affair.

-Is it?

-It all revolves around one incident.

-Mm.

-It is a very sexual book.

-Is it?

-So, it's their honeymoon.

Edward and Florence.

And it's just before the kind of swinging '60s explode and it's all atmosphere.

So they're in the hotel which is kind of close to Chesil Beach for this big wedding night.

All the things that kind of wrong on an occasion like that kind of go wrong.

And I'm gonna use a baking analogy.

-Okay.

-Imagine a piping bag full of icing.

-Okay.

-And normally the icing should be released onto a cake.

-Yes.

-And in the book I'm afraid the piping bag releases the icing not in the right places.

-Thanks for making that clear.

-I mean, it's quite sad.

-Right.

And there's no way back?

-Not in this book.

It's devastating actually.

-Oh, is it?

-Yeah.

-Oh, golly.

-This book is a story of love and misunderstandings, hopes and fears and ultimately tragic fate and it did absolutely nothing for honeymooners.

Me and my husband came on our honeymoon to Chesil Beach.

-No!

Really?

-Yes.

-That book must have killed the honeymoon trade here.

-No, luckily, I hadn't read it by then.

Actually I was four and a half months, um, preggers, so that was fine.

-That was fine.

-That was fine.

-Piping bags all dealt with.

-Piping bags had released.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Um, where did you go on yours, Martin?

-Malaysia and then the eastern Orient Express.

-Lovely, okay.

We came to Ches, I felt sick.

Um... [ Both laugh ] But imagine writing a whole book about that one.

-It's kind of Ian McEwan-y though, isn't it?

-Very.

Right ice cream and then lunch.

-Oh!

Pudding first.

-Pudding first.

-Wow.

Radical.

-Let's do it.

-That's really Ian McEwan.

-Come on.

It's so McEwan.

Hardy, Blyton and McEwan have all conjured up a fascinating picture of Dorset from the past.

But I'm keen to hear from modern writers inspired by the landscape of today.

A few miles down Chesil Beach, we're meeting Louisa Parker, an award-winning poet whose work has been influenced by growing up in the southwest.

-So, I was in Dorset altogether 25 years and before that I was in South Devon in the '80s.

So, yeah, I've lived down here a long -- I've seen you.

-Have you?

Okay.

-I've seen you in the supermarket.

-He gets about.

-Oh, yeah.

-He gets about.

What kind of stuff do you write?

-Okay, so, I write poetry and I write short fiction and I'm writing a memoir about living in Devon in the '80s.

-Yeah.

I notice you've got a book there, Louisa.

-I have.

This was my first poetry collection.

"Salt-Sweat and Tears."

Yeah, I wanted to share a poem with you called "Velvet Dresses."

-Yes, please.

-If that's okay.

Okay, so, I wrote "Velvet Dresses" when I was actually researching Dorset's black history going back over 400 years.

looking at links with the slave trade, looking at the African-American GIs who came here in the Second World War, the babies they left behind and that kind of thing.

So I was researching this and I was driving along near Chideock when I had this really strong sense of like I want to -- I want to belong here.

'Cause I hadn't felt until that point that I really had a right to be here because of my ethnicity.

Um, so this poem helped me feel like actually yeah I do belong.

-Brilliant.

-Um, so yeah, "Velvet Dresses."

"I want to climb under Dorset's skin, curl up in her folds.

Wrap her around me like a patchwork quilt, climb every craggy awkward hill.

Every cliff like a tooth capped with gold.

Trek for miles through woods and green fields like velvet dresses with skirts fanned out wide.

I want to let Dorset's past soak like cocoa butter into my skin.

Let her history merge with mine, talk of Africa and her slaves.

I want to know it'll be fine for anyone with not from here etched like tribal markings into their skin to sink into Dorset like a warm rock pool.

With fingers stretched out towards the sun, to walk her beaches, green velvet fields with pride, say I live here.

I belong here.

She is mine."

-That's amazing.

I share every single bit of what you love about it, what you want to have -- -Like the landscape, right?

-Yes, and what you -- What you want is yours 'cause I do... -Yeah.

-I do love it.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-Yeah.

It's very special.

-Yeah, and I kind of want to feel like everyone can belong here, you know, and just feel like that's okay.

But yeah, I'm very inspired by the landscape.

I do like the countryside.

I do like a bit of a slower pace of life.

-I always looked at my daughter and I kept thinking at some point she's gonna think, "I need the city.

I've got to get out, burst out and blossom."

I think the ankle tag helped.

[ Laughter ] -That's really nice, Louisa, thank you so much.

♪♪ It's been really lovely to revisit these amazing books, breathing the Dorset landscapes that inspired them, connecting page to place with the best literary travel companion I could wish for, Martin Clunes.

To you, Clunesy.

-And to you.

-Thank you so much.

-As we say in Dorset, get it up ya.

[ Both laugh ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪