On the 1st of November, Space Youth Project's young people were invited to Max Gate to learn more about Thomas Hardy, tour the house and gardens. The team at Max Gate were kind enough to let us visit while the house was closed to the public, so we got an amazing in-depth and behind the scenes tour. Additionally, Enterprise were kind enough to allow us to use one of their mini-buses so we could provide travel for more young people to join in with the fun!
The team at Max Gate welcomed us warmly and the volunteer historian gave us an overview of Thomas Hardy, his life, house, and work (as well as an AMAZING performance on a mini harmonica). We then split into two groups, so while one group toured the gardens, the other group toured the house. The tour around the house was so interesting, to see the rooms he wrote his different works in and learn more about his life. Some young people settled down as Thomas Hardy's desk or piano to really immerse themselves in the experience. The Max Gate team was even kind enough to open up the secondhand book shop for us so we could have a look.
The tour of the garden was just as interesting, being told all about the neolithic stones underneath the house and the archology importance of the site we were on. We also got to learn further about the trees and vegetable patch on site. The Max Gate site is also a hedgehog sanctuary! The Max Gate team has even invited us back for a possible trip in the Spring to work with Caps (head gardener) in the vegetable patch!
After we finished up our tour of Max Gate and said goodbye to the team, we headed over to Thorncombe Woods for a lovely walk that allowed us to learn all about foraging mushrooms and chestnuts. While some were on the walk, others visited the onsite Visitor Centre's Cafe to warm up. Having our fill of hot drinks and snacks!
The day out was incredibly enjoyable, especially meeting the team at Max Gate. They were incredibly warm and welcoming to us and their passion for the house and Thomas Hardy was infectious! It was even better so many young people could attend thanks to Enterprises' loan of a mini-bus! It was an amazing day to end our half-term.
Written by Charlie, a Supernova