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Rydal Mount, Cumbria

William Wordsworth moved to Rydal Mount in 1813, his last house, and the place where he settled down to be William Wordsworth, worthy poet, upstanding Englishman, national treasure, and early conservationist. He had left his "romantic" days behind. Romantic poets were meant to live fast and die young, and most of them did. Wordsworth had said goodbye to his long time friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, just before he moved to Rydal Mount, accusing his friend of "rotting his entrails out of intemperance." The rock and roll lifestyle can only be kept up for so long, and one way or another the young romantic Wordsworth had to pass away. I remember Punk Rock back in the 1970s being viewed as a threat to civilisation. Now punks can be found in London, being photographed by tourists as if they were Westminster Abbey. Wordsworth went through a similar transformation, and by the time he reached his respectable stage he was living at Rydal Mount.

Rydal Mount also represents respectability for the natural world in human history. Up until the fifteenth century nature had been viewed with fear, and people had done their best to shut it out or cover it up. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries man's influence over nature was complete, and there was no landscape in Britain unaffected by man. Nature had taken on a new image. At Rydal Mount Wordsworth created a garden which he hoped would harmonise with the "natural" world around it. Nature was now something to admire and protect. The present complex nature of our relationship with the natural world has its origins in the time of the Romantic Poets. The garden at Rydal Mount is a nice place to reflect on this. For more information see our History of Gardens page.

 

 

 

Opening Times: March to October, open daily 9.30am to 5pm.

November, December and February, Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 4pm.

Closed 25th - 26th December and during January.

Address: Rydal Mount and Gardens, Rydal, near Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 9LU

Directions: Rydal Mount is in the village of Rydal, just off the A591, about a mile north of Ambleside. Click here for an interactive map centred on Rydal Mount.

Access: Wheelchair access to Rydal Mount is possible. Contact the property to discuss your needs.

Contact:

telephone: 015394 33002

fax: 015394 31738

e-mail: info@rydalmount.co.uk

web site: www.rydalmount.co.uk