Weatherbury Farm

In Far From the Madding Crowd which is perhaps Thomas Hardys most popular novel we leave Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene newly married. Now many years on Bathshebas husband and three almost grown-up children have superseded the three diverse suitors of her youth. Bathshebas caprice and wilfulness have been replaced with the trials and tribulations of family life. All three children reject the careers chosen for them by their parents to become ever more cosmopolitan in their lives and outlook. As the children mature and make fewer demands on her time Bathsheba becomes involved with Gabriels mission to improve the working and living conditions of agricultural labourers. She strives against prejudice to form a womens movement to uphold and promote the rights of Union members wives. But as Industrialisation filters slowly into Hardys Victorian rural scenes the Oak family find Wessex life is changing forever. Is this change for the better?