Thomas Hardy's cottage now to let

The cottage where novelist Thomas Hardy grew up will now be let out to visitors over the winter months.

The cottage where Thomas Hardy, one of the great English writers of the 19th century, grew up will be let out to visitors over the winter months so they can experience the lifestyle he grew up in, The Times reported today.

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Guests will have to cook on an ancient stove and do their laundry by hand, though modern health and safety regulations will offer something in the way of creature comforts -- candles will be battery-powered, water will come from a tap, there will be a flushing lavatory and an electric kettle.

The National Trust, to which the cottage was bequeathed in 1948, will give points to the guests for how authentically they manage to live there, and each year a prize will be awarded to the most "hardy" tenant.

"We want to encourage people to live as much like the Hardy family did in the 1840s so they can find out what life was really like," Helen Mann, who manages the cottage in Dorset, southeast England, was quoted as saying.

The cottage where Thomas Hardy wrote two books is in Dorset

"This would create an increased income for the cottage and allow us to offer an innovative and evocative demonstration of Hardy's lifestyle. It will also help conserve the building over the winter months," she said.

Hardy wrote two books while living in the cottage -- "Under the Greenwood Tree" and "Far from the Madding Crowd". He later built and moved to a house in Dorchester, southeast England. The original cottage was built by Hardy's grandfather in 1800.

While the cottage does not contain any of his personal belongings, about 15,000 people visit it from around the world each year, when it is open from April to October.