Fans celebrate Hardy's birthday

The author was born 165 years ago in a Dorset hamlet

Fans of author Thomas Hardy have marked the anniversary of his birth with a service at the church where he is buried.

Thomas Hardy Society members gathered at St Michael's Church in Stinsford, near Dorchester, Dorset.

After the annual service, a wreath was laid on his grave in the churchyard.

Hardy, whose works include Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Wessex Tales, was born in the Dorset hamlet of Higher Bockhampton on 2 June 1840.

The infant Thomas lived with his parents Thomas and Jemima Hardy in a cottage built by his grandfather, which he later used for the setting of his second novel Under the Greenwood Tree.

Enthusiasts gather in Dorset from all over the world to celebrate his birthday every year.