Hardy Fans

In a case of carrying literary adulation a bit too far, Britain's National Trust plans to allow visitors to stay at the the Dorset cottage where Thomas Hardy grew up -- and experience for themselves what it would feel like to live in the 1840s.

The Times report continues: "Paying guests will have to cook on an ancient stove and do their laundry by hand. But they won’t have to endure all the hardships of Hardy’s childhood. Modern health and safety rules mean that the candles will be battery-powered and the water will come from a tap rather than a well. There will also be a flushing lavatory and an electric kettle.
The guests will be given points for how authentically they manage to live there, and each year a prize will be given to the most 'hardy' visitor."

What next, a stint at Rushdie's ancestral house in Solan? (With perhaps an inspiring trip to the brewery thrown in.)