Dorset's Other Hardy

Admiral Hardy is best remembered today as the close friend of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who attended the great naval hero in the hour of his death after the Battle of Trafalgar. He was a hero in his own right, his features decorating jugs and tankards of the time. Compared to his literary namesake, you'll find few signboards and memorials to this Hardy in his home county, but there is one monument - and it's a big one.

Thomas Masterman Hardy was born in 1769 at Kingston Russell, near Long Bredy, and from the age of nine raised at Portesham House in Portesham, a practical sort of village tucked well back under the hill of Black Down. At 12 he got his first taste of life at sea, but was sent home for further schooling. After three more years on land he escaped to sea again, this time slipping secretly aboard a merchantman, where he served before the mast and in the galley before enlisting. His naval career was to be illustrious.

In 1796 he had been put in charge of a captured foreign vessel when he witnessed two frigates under the command of Nelson in severe and imminent danger from a Spanish squadron. In a courageous and selfless act, Hardy hoisted the British flag, drawing the Spanish fire to his own vessel. He was captured in the ensuing fracas, but was later returned to the Royal Navy in an exchange of prisoners. Some months later he and Nelson were involved in another near-death adventure, when Nelson stopped the flight of his ship to wait for Hardy, who had gone to the rescue of a drowning seaman. His bold action so surprised his Spanish pursuers that they stopped in their tracks.

The friendship of the two men was to be deep and lasting. Hardy became the captain of Nelson's flagships and served with him at many of his most famous battles, including the Nile in 1798. In 1805, as captain of HMS Victory, he was at Nelson's side in that man's greatest hour and, when Nelson was mortally wounded, Hardy took command of the fleet. Nelson's last words were a blessing addressed to his great friend. Hardy continued in his career and stayed in the navy for another 30 years. His final service was as Governor of Greenwich Hospital, where he died and was buried in 1839.

Set high on Black Down hill, the Hardy Monument, solid and reliable as Hardy himself, looks like a Victorian chimney. You can climb up inside on summer weekends, but even if it is closed, the views from here over a sea of green fields and on down to Portland are superb.

What to look for

There are two stone circles on this route, their purpose and origin obscure. The first is Hampton Stone Circle, where the nine flinty stone lumps (they look like concrete aggregate) are well used by cattle as scratching posts. The stone is a natural phenomenon, with flint gravel cemented by silica, laid down over 40 million years ago. The more numerous lumps of the Kingston Russell Stone Circle are mottled with lichen.

Where to eat and drink

Abbotsbury is well supplied with tea rooms, some of which are passed on Walk 39. On Market Street the Bakehouse Tearoom (also an antique and collectables shop) offers home-made cakes including great wedges of Dorset apple cake. The Wheelwrights Tearoom, also on the route, offers tasty light lunches (and has an art gallery too). If you want something stronger, the Ilchester Arms Hotel has an extensive beer garden.

While you're there

Abbotsbury Swannery is a unique sanctuary. Mute swans have lived on the Fleet for 600 years, since they were introduced as a food source for the abbey, and their nest site is now protected. Come in April to see them nesting and from mid-May to see cygnets. In the huge tithe barn near by Smuggling Adventure offers fun for the under 11s, with a themed play area and a farm where children can cuddle rabbits and pet pigs, drive a toy tractor and go for pony rides.