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Dove Cottage, Cumbria

At the very end of the eighteenth century, after many years of wandering in Britain and Europe, William Wordsworth returned to the Lake District where he was born. He lived in Dove Cottage, Grasmere. It was the smallest house he had ever lived in, and at first it's confines seemed to speak of the failure of his career. But it is in this little house that he wrote some of his best poetry, writing much of The Prelude here.

Dove Cottage runs an extensive programme of activities and tours aimed at families, schools and groups. For schools there are resource packs, workshops and guided tours. Much of this is geared towards the National Curriculum. Do bear in mind if you are on a school's visit that the Wordsworth who moved here was not the rather boring stick-in-the-mud figure he later presented himself as being. He had spent his youth undertaking truly epic walking journeys, doing his best to escape family obligations, and flirting with radical politics in the dangerous environment of France during the French Revolution. Wordsworth came to the Lake District and tried to forget all that. The violent outcome of the French Revolution had given radicals like him a bad name, and he settled down to become William Wordsworth, worthy poet, upstanding Englishman and national treasure. Resource packs on his poetry would have been welcome to this older Wordsworth, but not to the younger man he tried to forget. If I were you I would try and remember the younger Wordsworth, who ran wild over the fells, hiked for thousands of miles in Europe, did his best to get out of his family obligations, had a baby with a French woman who was a resistance fighter against the French Revolution, and who he possibly visited during a time when Britain and France were at war, like some kind of commando operating behind enemy lines. Dove Cottage was like a little bottle where he tried to keep a powerful genie.

 

 

Opening Times: Open daily March to October, 09.30am to 5.30pm, last admission is at 5pm.

From November to February Dove Cottage closes at 4.30pm, last admission at 4pm. Dove Cottage will be closed Tuesdays between November and February.

Closed 24th - 26th December and from 4th January to 2nd February.

Address: Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SQ

Directions: Coming from the south take the A591 towards Grasmere. At the turning into Stock Lane, which leads into Grasmere, take a sharp right hand turn. Click here for an interactive map centred on Dove Cottage. There is limited parking for coaches at the property.

Access: Wheelchair access to the ground floor of Dove Cottage is possible. A virtual tour is available at the information point of the Wordsworth Museum. Contact the property to discuss your needs.

Contact:

web site: www.wordsworth.org.uk

telephone: 015394 35544

fax: 015394 35748

e-mail: enquiries@wordsworth.org.uk

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