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Dove Cottage

After many years of wandering in Britain and in Europe, William Wordsworth returned to the Lake District where he was born, and lived in this small house in 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 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 genie.

Opening Times: Dove Cottage is open every day from 9:30am to 5:30pm. Last admission is at 5pm. The cottage is closed 24th - 26th December and for January.

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 Dove Cottage is possible. Contact the property to discuss your needs.

Contact:

Web site: www.wordsworth.org.uk

Telephone: 015394 35544

E-mail: enquiries@wordsworth.org.uk