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William Wordsworth

  • Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK)

Last updated: 26 March, 2024

The Lake District is indelibly linked with the ‘Romantic Movement’, the generation of 18th-century poets who drew inspiration from nature and the world around them.

Chief among them was William Wordsworth, who was born in the Lake District and spent much of his childhood and adult life here.

Several sites associated with the poet can be visited, including three of his former homes and his childhood school, as well as his last resting place in the peaceful churchyard of St Oswald’s in Grasmere.

For a general overview of Wordsworth and the Romantic Movement, head for the Wordsworth Museum, next to Dove Cottage.

Recommendations

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  • Grasmere, Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK)

Of all the Wordsworth sites dotted around the Lake District, Dove Cottage is arguably the most atmospheric. Once an inn called the Dove & Olive, this little whitewashed cottage was Wordsworth’s first home in the Lakes after returning from London; he moved here in 1799 with his sister Dorothy, wife Mary and his small family, and remained here till 1808.

Informative guided tours delve into the secrets of the house and its history. The house is packed with fascinating possessions, from a pair of his spectacles and his passport to a portrait of his favourite dog, Pepper, given to him by Sir Walter Scott. Look out for the bedroom plastered with newspaper – a makeshift form of insulation necessitated by the Wordsworth’s impecunious circumstances.

At the back of the cottage is a charmingly wild garden, which Wordsworth called his ‘domestic slip of mountain’ – he tended to it himself, and often composed poetry out here too.

Adult price: £12

Good for age: 18+

Grasmere Village

  • Ambleside, Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK)

Pedestrians outside the gift shop and cafe in the Main Street in the centre of Grasmere Village

Experience

The region’s most picturesque and charming village. Grasmere is set on the shores of its eponymous lake and cradled by green fields and fells. William Wordsworth is buried in the churchyard of St Oswald’s – you can see the poet’s tombstone.

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 3 hours

Hawkshead Grammar School

  • Hawkshead, Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK)

Exterior of the school, a small white building

Experience

Wordsworth attended the little village school in Hawkshead. Learn about the poet’s early life and education on a guided tour, and also look out for the school desk where he mischievously carved his name.

Adult price: £4

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 3 hours

  • Rydal, Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK)

Exterior of the house

Bucket List Experience

Rydal Mount

Though Dove Cottage is the most famous of Wordsworth’s Lakeland homes, Rydal Mount is the one where he spent the most time – 37 years, to be precise, from 1813 until his death in 1850.

It makes an interesting companion piece to nearby Dove Cottage; altogether grander in scale, and surrounded by fine gardens, it’s a clear sign of Wordsworth’s increasing fame, wealth and poetic prestige.

Most of the house’s rooms are open to the public, from the family bedrooms to the grand drawing room and the poet’s own attic study. It’s full of interesting details for Wordsworth scholars: portraits of the poet, and possessions including his favourite walking stick, his picnic box, and the well-thumbed family bible.

Outside are the landscaped gardens which William apparently laid out to his own design (he was a passionate gardener).

Adult price: £5

Good for age: 18+

Wordsworth House and Garden

  • Cockermouth, Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK)

Visitors in the garden in June at Wordsworth House, Cumbria, the birthplace and childhood home of romantic poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy.

Experience

Wordsworth’s childhood home in Cockermouth is now owned by the National Trust, and offers an absorbing glimpse of the poet’s early life, with costumed guides on hand to help illustrate the story.

Adult price: £8

Good for age: 18+

Duration: 3 hours

Logistics

Price: Free
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around
Duration: 3 hours

Who to go with: organised tours

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Our selection of the best Viator tours of this attraction or activity

  • Windermere

This tour takes you to: • Grasmere Village where William Wordsworth lived. • Church Stile the former inn where William Wordsworth, his brother John and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge stayed for several days during their Lake District tour in 1797. • Grasmere Gingerbread Shop where Sarah Nelson invented the world famous "Grasmere Gingerbread" in 1854. • The Wordsworth family graves. • St Oswald's Church where the Wordsworth family worshipped. • Dove Cottage where William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived from 1799 to 1808. • Views of Grasmere, the beautiful lake the Wordsworths knew so well. • Rydal Mount William Wordsworth's best loved family home from 1813 to his death in 1850. • Rydal Hall Gardens where Wordsworth admired the waterfall from the "grot" viewing house. • Rydal Church built on the site chosen by William Wordsworth which also inspired two of his poems. • Dora's Field bought by William Wordsworth in 1826. • Views of Rydal Water, one of the smaller lakes.

Price £89

Min age 0

Rating 5 / 5 [7 ratings]

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