| CHAPTER | PAGE |
| I. | DORSET FOLK AND DORSET WAYS | 13 |
| The Dorset Rustic a Genial Fellow—Unconscious Humour—The Jovial Blacksmith—Cider-making—The Poetic Tippler—Anglo-Saxon Tongue—Enigmatical Sayings and Proverbs—A Dorset Rector and his Ale—Whiplegs—Thatch and "Cob"—A Beautiful Tract between Seaton and West Bay—The Devil's Own Card—Thomas Hardy's Story of Witchcraft—Conjurer Trendle—The Piskies—The Bibulous Farmer and the Piskies—The Cider Mill—Happy Days at Hovey's Barn—Marc Bricks—A Game of "Hunting"—A Dorset Vicar on Miracles—Akermann's Wiltshire Glossary—William Barnes—"Dorset's good enough for me!"—Large Farm Kitchens | |
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| II. | BARFORD ST MARTIN TO TISBURY AND SHAFTESBURY | 33 |
| Tisbury—John Lockwood Kipling—The Green Dragon at Barford St Martin—The Man who laughed gloriously—Points of Perfection in a Greyhound—The Best Dog that ever breathed—Shaftesbury and its Traditions—A Curious Custom—A Story of Water-carrying Days at Shaston—Bimport and Jude the Obscure—Old Grove's Place—Marnhull—Pure Drop Inn | |
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| III. | THE VALE OF BLACKMOOR | 45 |
| Fortune scowls on me—The Song of the Nightingale—A Little Round-Faced Man—The Hauntings of Woolpit House—The Vale of Blackmoor—White-Hart Silver—King's Stag Inn—The Length of Life in Animals—Folk-Sayings of Blackmoor—The Maidens of Blackmoor—Barnes the Poet | |
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| IV. | BLANDFORD TO DORCHESTER | 59 |
| Blandford—Winterborne Whitchurch—Turberville the Poet—Milborne St Andrews—"Welland House"—Hardy's Two on a Tower—Puddletown—The Story of Farmer Dribblecombe and the Christmas Ale—The Ancient Family of Martins—The Ape of the Martins—The Last of the Martins—The Church of Puddletown—A Sad Love Story—"Weatherbury Upper Farm" | |
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| V. | DORCHESTER | 69 |
| Daniel Defoe's Description of Dorchester—Doctor Arbuthnot—St Peter's Church—Thomas Hardy of Melcombe Regis—William Barnes—Judge Jeffreys—Maumbury Rings—Mary Channing strangled and burnt—Thomas Hardy and Relics of Roman Occupation—Maiden Castle—Old Inns—The Grammar School—Napper's Mite—Hangman's Cottage—The Bull Stake—"Jopp's Cottage"—Priory Ruins—High Place Hall—Colyton House—The Mask with a Leer—Thomas Hardy and the Habits of Bridge Haunters—Dorchester Ale—"Groves" Stingo—The Trumpet Major—Toby Fillpot—A Dorchester Butt—Far from the Madding Crowd—"Yellowham Wood"—The Brown Owl—The Hedge Pig—Fordington—Church of St George—Hardy's "Mellstock"—Winterborne Villages—Original Manuscript of Mayor of Casterbridge—Wolverton House—Knightly Trenchards—Cerne Abbas and "The Giant" | |
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| VI. | A LITERARY NOTE: THOMAS HARDY AND WILLIAM BARNES | 98 |
| Hardy's Grandfather—Hardy as a Poet—Primitive Nature Worship—Prose Poem of the Cider-Maker—William Barnes—Troublous Days—"Woak Hill"—Pathetic Touch | |
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| VII. | BERE REGIS AND THE ANCIENT FAMILY OF TURBERVILLE | 122 |
| Yellowham Hill—"The Royal Oak" at Bere Regis—My Friend the Thatcher—The Complete Guide to Thatching—Bere Regis Church—Humorous Norman Carvings—Sepulchre of the Turbervilles—Outline of Hardy's Tess—A Turberville Tradition—The First of the Turbervilles—Bryant's Puddle—The Old Turberville Manor House—Descendants of the Illegitimate Turbervilles—A Flagrant Poacher—The Tyrant of the Tudor Inn—Hodge the eternally efficient—Hardy's Tess and Wellbridge Manor House—Tess's Ancestors—Smoke Pence—Superstition and Shrewdness mingled in the Rustic—"Old Gover"—The Story of the Turberville Coach—Bindon Abbey—Tess—A Sinister Old Wood | |
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| VIII. | ROUND AND ABOUT WEYMOUTH | 147 |
| Weymouth and Melcombe Regis—Rivalry of the Old Boroughs—George III.—The Sands—Uncle Benjy and Inflated Prices—Sandsfoot Castle—Weymouth Localities in The Trumpet Major—The Dynasts—The Dorset Rustic and Boney—The Girls of Budmouth—The "Naples of England"—Mr Harper on the Hardy Country—Georgian Houses—The Realest Things—Interesting Relics—Preston—Sutton Poyntz—The Trumpet Major—Overcombe Mill—To keep Dorset fair—A Soldier Poet—Bincombe—Racy Saxon Speech—Hardy on Wessex Words—Poxwell—Owermoigne—Lulworth Cove—Portisham—Admiral Hardy—Abbotsbury | |
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| IX. | POOLE | 163 |
| Poole Harbour—The Quay—An English Buccaneer—Brownsea—Lytchett—"To please his Wife"—An Enjoyable Coast Ramble | |
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| X. | SWANAGE AND CORFE CASTLE | 168 |
| Kingsley's Description of Swanage—Tilly Whim—Thomas Hardy's "Knollsea"—The Quarry Folk—A MediÆval Trades Guild—Old Dorset Family Names—Marrying the Land—High Street at Swanage—Quaint Houses and a Mill-Pond—St Mary's Church—Newton Manor—Studland—The Agglestone—Langton Matravers—Kingston—Enckworth Court—Corfe—The Greyhound Hotel—An Elizabethan Manor-House—Corfe Church—A Brave Good Chest—Curfew—Churchwardens and the Degrees of Inebriation—Reward for killing a Fox—Lonely Kingdom of an Inn—Wareham—Wild Life on the Frome—Wareham once a Port—The "Bloody Bank"—Peter of Pomfret—Meaning of the Name Wareham—Bishop Cating—St Mary's Church—"Black Bear" and "Red Lion"—Chapel of St Martin | |
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| XI. | MY ADVENTURE WITH A MERRY ROGUE | 191 |
| My Sentimentalism over old Inns, old Ale and old Drinking Vessels—Morcombe Lake—"Dorset Knobs"—The Lonely Singer—The Lea
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