From This Perch: Lawrence of Arabia, Thomas Hardy, and a Big Naked Giant

The childhood cottage home of author Thomas Hardy
in Dorset County

A gorgeous weekend can lend itself to many, many things. For us, this past one beckoned us into the countryside with visits to no fewer than five National Trust sites.

You can barely turn around in the United Kingdom without bumping into something historic - and for a couple of good reasons. First, recorded history in the UK goes back at least 2,000 years to the Roman Occupation. This is ten times longer a time span than what we have for the United States. And second, the land mass is much smaller here than at home. Imagine fitting 2,000 years worth of tumultuous history, warring monarchs and global empire into an area roughly half the size of California. You're bound to stumble over something of note every third step.

1. Clouds Hill, Dorset County. This is the last home and rural retreat of T.E. Lawrence, better known to us as Lawrence of Arabia. When he wasn't writing, he was riding around the back roads on his latest Brough Superior motorbike.

Nice selection of T.E. Lawrence memorabilia in the tiny shop outside Clouds Hill

"I've a hut in a wood near camp wherein I spend my spare evenings."
T.E. Lawrence wrote about Clouds Hill

Inside the very austere Clouds Hill, first floor.

2. Hardy Cottage - Our next stop was Thomas Hardy's unbelievably quaint childhood cottage, also in Dorset County but so far off the beaten path we weren't really sure where we were going. Not only were the back roads narrow, but there were tall hedges on either side so it was like driving through an oversized mouse maze. (See video clip at the bottom of this post.)

Thomas Hardy is the 19th century author who wrote Jude the Obscure and Far from the Madding Crowd. Much of his writing contains descriptions of nature and after seeing where he grew up, the woods in which he must have played as a boy, the ponds and great rolling meadows nearby, it's small wonder.

This was Hardy's birthday week so tea and scones were served in the garden to celebrate. This kind woman maxed out my Adorable Index.

Inside the cottage, upstairs bedroom

3. Cerne Giant - There's a naked giant in Dorset County and no one's sure how it got here, why or when, although most agree it probably dates back to the Iron Age. And - for obvious reasons - it's considered a symbol of fertility. It's England's largest chalk drawing with a view well worth the climb up that damn hill.

The Cerne Giant, a chalk drawing probably from the Iron Age, is England's largest.

Our view from near the Giant, he's over to the left of us. The National Trust has had to fence him off from the public because of all the "abuse" this poor fellow has suffered over the centuries.

4. West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire - Home to the Dashwoods for centuries, this Palladian style villa is all that. Despite its lack of formal garden (waah!), the grounds seem to suit this relatively understated home.