Hardy's Cottage

Hardy's Cottage is a detached cottage located in Higher Bockhampton, dating from the early 19th century. The left section of the cottage was built around 1800, while the right section was added around 1840. The structure features brick walls with some flint banding and a facing on cob, with upper walls made of plastered cob. It has a hipped thatched roof, with the roof of the right section being slightly lower. There are brick stacks at both ends and in the center of the building. The cottage is one storey with an attic, and it includes a brick porch with a shallow pitched lead roof and a ledged door. There is evidence of two blocked doors.

On the ground floor, there are four casement windows, two of which have glazing bars and two with lead lights. The attic features three slightly dormered windows, two with glazing bars and one with lead lights. At the right end, there is a single-storey extension made of brick with a slate roof, along with a small single-storey timber extension at the front of this.

Internally, the main ground floor room has a large open fireplace with a timber lintel and a bread oven accessible from the room on the right. The floors are made of old brick and stone, and there are early panelled doors that may have been brought from elsewhere. Hardy's Cottage is notable as the birthplace of the author Thomas Hardy in 1840 and was built by his great grandfather. It is considered a good unspoiled example of a Dorset cottage and is a property of the National Trust.