Lulworth Cove (Lulwind Cove) – Thomas Hardy’s ‘miniature Mediterranean’

“Had I but lived a hundred years ago
I might have gone, as I have gone this year,
By Warmwell Cross on to a Cove I know,
And Time have placed his finger on me there:”
Excerpt from ‘At Lulworth Cove a Century Back‘ by Thomas Hardy.

At Lulworth Cove next week Thomas Hardy’s Dorset will be brought to life in open-air theatre by the New Hardy Players, with performances of their new adaptation of Hardy’s ‘The Return Of The Native’ on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th July at 7.30pm, picnics from 6.30pm.

Further details and how to get tickets: here.

 

Lulworth Cove (or Lulwind Cove as named in Hardy’s stories) is the scene of the dramatic swim taken by Sergeant Troy in ‘Far From The Madding Crowd‘:

He “came to a small basin of sea enclosed by the cliffs […] He undressed and plunged in. Inside the cove the water was uninteresting to a swimmer, being smooth as a pond, 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“.

Further connections between Thomas Hardy and Lulworth can be explored here:
http://www.lulworth.com/Castle-Park/See-Do/Hardys-Lulworth/.