Bath, 22 April 2015: Alison Howell's Foot Trails is encouraging people to explore on foot the countryside that inspired the writings of Thomas Hardy, just as a new film based on his story Far From the Madding Crowd is due to open across the UK on 1 May.

The Bath-based walking-holiday specialist offers short and longer walking trails visiting the towns, villages and rural pastures once travelled by the author and his characters, and which provided many locations for the new film.

On Tess's Journey (Hardy's Tales), walkers can trace the steps of the heroine of Tess of the d'Urbervilles on a peaceful, timeless, self-guided wander through a rarely walked landscape. The inn-to-inn tour follows the river Stour, with its kingfishers and herons, and calls at Marnhull, a village Hardy renamed as Marlott for his tragic tale. It also passes through the Saxon hilltop town of Shaftesbury – or Shaston in the author's stories – which will also feature in the new movie. The tour is available as a four-, five- or six-night trip, from £565 per person.

Truly Madly Deeply Dorset also takes in Hardy country, helping guests explore north Dorset – the quiet pastoral scenery that Hardy drew much inspiration from. His descriptions of the local landscapes are soft in contrast to the gritty and sometimes tragic issues of the day that his books tackled. The holiday can be tailored to suit walkers' requirements and the season, with a choice of two daily trail lengths, of five to seven miles or up to 10 miles per day. Three-, four- and five-night versions of this trip are available from £355 per person.

A day's walking trail created by the Foot Trails team and titled “Thomas Hardy Tales”, can be incorporated on request into two of its inn-to-inn walking experiences, Wiltshire & Dorset Borders and Wessex Ancient Kingdom. Highlights of this day's walking include time on the aptly named Thomas Hardy Downs, from where the author would stand and survey the rolling Wessex countryside. Much of the scenery is little changed in appearance from Hardy's time. Wiltshire & Dorset Borders can be booked for between four and seven nights, from £535 per person. Wessex Ancient Kingdom is available as eight-, 10-, and 12-night itineraries, from £1,195 per person.

All Foot Trails holidays are priced per person, based on two sharing, and include B&B accommodation, transport drop-off services to the trailhead, luggage transfers where required, waterproof route notes and map, a Walk and Explore box containing local nature and history guides and stories – and a fortifying bag of sweets. Car-free options are available.

Foot Trails ­– which was recently named Best Local Low-Impact Tour Operator by Greentraveller – draws on expert knowledge gained by the team during more than 12 years spent tramping across the region to create inspiring, seasonally appropriate walks. The company specialises in designing walks for adults to suit individual tastes. Routes are plotted to avoid the crowded national trails, instead following local paths, with notes provided about local history and nature to immerse guests in the cultural landscape and put them back in touch with the natural environment. Country cafes, inns and small hotels are hand-picked for award-winning food and drink and stylish, comfortable accommodation, to add a touch of luxury and promote sustainable rural tourism.

To book, visit www.foottrails.co.uk or call 01747 820626.

Follow developments at Foot Trails on Twitter: @FootTrailsUK, Instagram: @foottrailsUK, and at www.facebook.com/foottrails. Blog: http://foottrails.co.uk/blog/ and Vimeo http://foottrails.co.uk/our-story/we-are-foot-trails/

To request images or further information, to enquire about press trips, and to arrange interviews with Alison Howell, please contact Little Black Book Creative: Simone Kane on 07811 161839 and simone@lbbcreative.co.uk, or Kate Simon on 07939 526109 and kate@lbbcreative.co.uk.

Notes to editors:

Alison Howell's Foot Trails is an innovative and award-winning British travel company and the leading specialist provider of rural walking holidays in South West England, with more than 850 miles of trails in Somerset, Wiltshire, The Cotswolds, Devon and Dorset. The successful Foot Trails brand, established in 2002 by Alison Howell, has been built on a passion for rural England, an unwavering determination to provide unique walking-holiday experiences and a strong commitment to ensuring tourism is sustainable and impacts positively on the landscapes and economies of rural communities.

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