Talbothayes Lodge

Talbothayes Lodge is a detached house dating from around 1890, designed by Thomas Hardy for his brother and two sisters. The house is constructed of brick with a hipped slate roof featuring a crested ridge. Brick stacks are plastered and topped with dentil details, arranged irregularly. The building is two storeys high with an attic.

The main front features a two-storey porch with a hipped roof, located right of centre. It contains a raised panel door set within a round arched opening, topped with a solid tympanum. Above the door is a sash window with glazing bars. A later single-storey flat-roofed addition is located to the left of the porch, featuring a casement window with glazing bars. To the right of the porch, there is a sash window with glazing bars beneath a segmental arch on each floor. To the left of the porch, above the flat-roofed addition, a sash window with glazing bars is positioned at a mezzanine level. Further left, a sash window with glazing bars is situated beneath a segmental arch on each floor, and at the left end, a section is set back slightly, and contains a sash window on each floor. A flat-roofed dormer with casement windows, featuring a central horizontal bar, is present in the attic.

Inside, a staircase has a cut string, turned balusters, and spandril brackets. At the rear of the stair hall, there is a round arch set within a square timber frame, simulating voussoirs and pilasters. The upper landing has two plain round arched openings. Talbothayes Lodge is one of only two known surviving houses designed by Thomas Hardy.