Great West Country Holidays Far Away In Wessex

By Matthew Stiller

In 1970 a Londoner was having his hair cut in a Dorset village. 'Oh, I went to London once, ' said the middle aged barber. Considering that London is just over a hundred miles away from that village the Londoner reflected that the physical remoteness could be less than the intellectual distance between himself and the barber. Nevertheless, Great West Country holidays take their charm from being far from the madding crowd.

Thomas Hardy took the title for his novel from a poem by Thomas Gray written in a rural churchyard near London. In Hardy's novels and in the poem, a magnifying glass is applied, as it were, to the lives of simple, unknown people. It is shown how they suffer the same depth and breadth of emotion; the same expanses of joy and tragedy as celebrities and those born to privilege by accident of birth.

Hardy' novels are so widely read throughout the English speaking world that very many people are acquainted with the rural settings in which characters like Bathsheba Everdene, Gabriel Oak and Farmer Boldwood lived their lives far from the city crowds. Ironically, the novel makes clear that emotional stress and tension may be just as intense in rural as in urban settings. In fact, isolation may make emotion even more intense.

In 'Far from the Madding Crowd' there are many memorable scenes in which action takes places against a backdrop of lush vegetation. The same applies in other works and even the ancient historical mounds of historic barrows are invoked to give a sense of the ways in which emotions and relationships are timeless.

West country hiking holidays are popular because they can be arranged to wind through memorable places. For some people it is onerous to carry a heavy pack with provisions so hiking holiday tour operators can arrange to have backpacks transported from one stopover point to another. This leaves hikers free to amble through countryside that is beautiful both naturally and architecturally. Not having to carry packs can mean that holiday makers can spend pleasant and relaxed evenings talking to locals rather than in exhausted, recuperative mode.

For those who are attracted to aquatic lifestyles the West Country has a great deal to offer. There are two long warm coastlines along the long leg of land that stretched into the Atlantic Ocean. Boating and sailing opportunities abound, as they have done for centuries. For many people there is no need to venture inland because the coast line is sufficient unto itself.

Very long ago the area was a separate kingdom known as Wessex. Historians can study the signs of early inhabitants at places like Stonehenge. Online sites the organize Great West Country holidays can accommodate those who wish to spend time seeing such sites.

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