'This is the solstice...the place of caught breath, the door of a vanished house left ajar..' Margaret Atwood

It's time for midsummer magic and madness folks - so read on for a chance to win an original painting by Maggi Hambling , and thoughts on the tipping point of the year..

Here it is, ‘Moon and Sea’ , a roiling and beautiful sea at that, and the scudding low moon that sends us in a dance along its path. Maggi Hambling RA has personally donated the painting to a fundraiser close to her heart. The Montagu family, whose beautiful house Mapperton was used as the home of Bathsheba Everdene in Thomas Vinterberg’s Far From the Madding Crowd, are raising money for Weldmar Hospicecare, and you can win the painting here by donating increments of £20.

Carrie Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene

And for Hardy lovers or Hardy newcomers, do listen to this brilliant episode of In Our Time where Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hardy’s poetry, (his preferred medium, the astonishing, beloved novels were just for earning his rent) and his deep love for his wife Emma, whose death led to his writing poetry such as this: