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Coleridge's Cottage, Somerset

In 1796 the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge had just married Sara, and was struggling to make a living. The young couple moved into a cottage in Nether Stowey, Somerset. The cottage in Nether Stowey was to be Coleridge's home during his great poetic year from the summer of 1797 to the summer of 1798. He wrote most of his best work during this time. It was from here that Coleridge travelled to meet Wordsworth at Racedown in Dorset and begin one of the most famous partnerships in poetry.

When I visited I got a sense of a man involved in the normal run of life. This was an ordinary little cottage in a Somerset village, not a stately home. However, there was also a sense of isolation. The cottage, as during Coleridge's time, is at the edge of the village. Although Nether Stowey has expanded since the eighteenth century, there is still a sense that this house is not sitting in the cosy village centre. Coleridge always struggled to find a place in life, and even in Nether Stowey, writing his greatest poetry, he was hanging around on the edge of things, acting with his usual diffidence.

 

 

 

Opening Times: opening hours for National Trust properties can be complex. Please use contact details below.

Address: Coleridge Cottage, 35 Lime Street, Nether Stowey, Bridgewater, Somerset TA5 1NQ

Directions: Nether Stowey is just off the A39 in Somerset. The cottage is in Lime Street, opposite the Ancient Mariner pub. Parking is available in the village centre. Continue past the cottage and turn right at the clock tower. The car park is on the right next to the library. There are also toilets here. Click here for an interactive map centred on Coleridge's Cottage.

Access: This is a difficult property for those in wheelchairs. There are steps to the entrance, and the rooms are small.

Contact:

telephone: 01278 732662

e-mail: coleridgecottage@nationaltrust.org.uk

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-coleridgecottage.htm