Easter Primroses

We are staying very close to Thomas Hardy's Cottage - the place where the well known author was born and wrote some of his books.  This cottage, where Hardy was born in 1840, was built of cob and thatch by his grandfather and has been little altered since the family left.

Despite training as an architect, writing was Hardy's first love, and it was from here that he wrote several of his early short stories, poetry and novels including 'Under the Greenwood Tree' and 'Far from the Madding Crowd'.



The garden reflects most people's idea of a typical cottage garden, with roses around the door, and the sound of birdsong, even in winter. Inside it is easy to see that 19th-century rural life, with its open hearths, small windows and stone floors, was not always idyllic and not what we would like now.
These primroses from the cottage garden are in one of the windows and sum up the spirit of the morning.  The National Trust, who manage the place, organise Easter Egg trails and I went with the family and the grandchildren to the 'hunt'.

We had our own 'hunt' back at our holiday cottage as well and will soon have a traditional Easter roast.