TWO new visitor centres could be built for Thomas Hardy fans as part of a proposed £3 million project to put the writer's brand on West Dorset.

The development is one option proposed by consultants looking at ways to bring more tourists to the area and to create more facilities.

The scheme for two visitor centres - one in Dorchester and one at a rural location - is the top of the range of options being explored by JDD Consulting for five partners looking to build on Hardy's worldwide reputation as a literary great.

The option would see more than £3million invested in the centres and in culture, learning and landscape projects. Two others offer scaled down scenarios.

JDD Consulting outlines the options as part of a preliminary report being discussed at a meeting of the West Dorset heritage joint advisory committee on Monday. A full report is due later this month.

The project has been commissioned by the National Trust, Dorset County Council, West Dorset District Council, Dorset AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - and the Thomas Hardy Society.

The consultants have been asked to look into branding the area Thomas Hardy Country as an internationally-recognised, high-quality visitor experience.

The brief calls for a vision which should 'inspire intellectual, emotional and physical engagement with the Dorset landscape and its cultural heritage for tourism and the local population'.

The report says inland Dorset is under-valued as a visitor destination but it has the assets to draw significantly higher numbers.

It adds that the area lacks a strong brand and a literary or cultural figure might be an effective flagship for a region.

But it warns: "The name also carries certain risks, including the reinforcement of a 'chocolate-box' perception of Dorset.

"Therefore, the brand should, from the start, be linked to contemporary themes and 21st century projects."

It says the brand needs a sufficient marketing budget, the capacity to link into existing programmes, links to the academic world and facilities for managing new visitors in order to succeed.

The report also suggests exploring other locations such as Kingston Maurward to offer visitors a facility in the Stinsford area that has strong associations with Hardy.

If that went ahead the consultants would recommend a clustered Hardy attraction to include the birthplace cottage, Hardy's Dorchester home Max Gate and Stinsford Church.

The reports says equally vital is the capacity to relay visitors to other parts of inland Dorset and to specific sites and attractions.

The consultants are also looking into funding for the project.

But the project has been labelled over-ambitious by tour guide and president of Dorchester Chamber of Commerce, Alistair Chisholm.

He said: "Let's get the basics right first. Visitors can come from across the world and then find they can't make the last three miles to get to the birthplace cottage.

"If they get there they find no loo. Why spend so much money on visitor centres? The whole of Dorchester is Hardy's Dorchester - his Casterbridge.

"Let's make the town itself the visitor centre and make it easy to get to places like Stinsford, the birthplace cottage and Max Gate with a shuttle bus."

Mr Chisholm said the cottage in particular should be open all year round.

Robert Matthews of Dorchester's TIC reported a rise in visitors following the BBC screening of Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.