MADE IN Chelsea star Francis Boulle is set to return to Dorset to show his support for wind farm campaigners again.

He will open an event at Waterston Manor to celebrate its birthday weekend and 140 years since the publication of Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd.

The event on Sunday will also raise funds for the TAINT (Tolpuddle Against Industrial Turbines) group that has been set up in opposition to plans for a wind farm in the area.

Francis attended the event last year and will be showing his support for the campaign once more.

The privately owned gardens near Puddletown, which are not usually open to the public, were the setting for Bathsheba Everdene’s Weatherbury Farm in Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd so to celebrate the anniversary of the novel’s publication there will be Hardy themed lectures on the day.

Hardy experts Barrie Bullen and Tony Fincham will speak on Waterston in Far from the Madding Crowd and the Hardy landscape under threat from wind farm development.

Visitors will also be able to explore the gardens and grounds as well as enjoying stalls and entertainment for all ages.

Owner of Waterston Manor Katherine Butler is a leading campaigner against the wind farms.

She said: “It is time to put an end to the feeding frenzy by developers and landowners who rush to destroy our landscape in an attempt to cash in on the windfall from government subsidiaries.

“I am determined to prevent the destruction of our beautiful countryside in a misguided solution to our energy needs.

“This destruction will continue until there is a considered policy on the location of renewable projects.”

The gardens will be open between 10am and 4pm.

For further information contact Sally Slocock on 01305 848640 or email sally.slocock@virgin.net

For details about the TAINT campaign visit taint.org.uk