Depart Whitehaven this morning and
drive south through the delightful countryside of the
Lake District National Park to Ravenglass. Ravenglass
is the only coastal town within the Lake District National
Park, and lies on the estuary of three rivers - the
Esk, the Mite and the Irt. It became an important naval
base for the Romans in the 2nd century, though little
remains of this now. The main street is paved with sea
cobbles, which leads up from the shingle beach.
Continue on through pretty villages and stunning panoramas
to Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth lived from 1813 to
1850. The house, which still belongs to the poet’s
descendents, has seen little change since Wordsworth
and his family came to live there in 1813. The house
contains portraits, personal possessions and first editions
of the poet's work, and you may visit the attic study
which Wordsworth used when has was Poet Laureate. Wordsworth
was a keen landscape gardener and there is time to wander
through the delightful gardens, which remain very much
as he originally designed, before you drive the short
distance onto Dove Cottage.
Dove Cottage was the home of William Wordsworth from
1799 to 1808, the years of his supreme work as a poet.
The cottage is located in the hamlet of Town End, Grasmere,
a place and a landscape at the centre of the English
Lake District where the poet lived, wrote and found
inspiration. Here the Wordsworth Museum is located,
and displays some of the nation's greatest treasures
from the age of Romanticism including original manuscripts,
eighteenth and nineteenth century local landscapes,
portraits of Wordsworth, his contemporaries and family
possessions. Enjoy lunch in this delightful setting,
before continuing north on to Keswick, the main town
for the northern half of the Lake District. On arrival
there is some free time to independently explore Keswick,
located alongside the scenic shores of Derwentwater,
considered to be one of England’s finest lakes.
Your final destination today is Wordsworth House, located
in Cockermouth, itself a charming town of colourwashed
houses beside the river. A fine Georgian townhouse,
William Wordsworth was born here in 1770 and several
of the rooms still contain some of his personal effects.
The lovely terraced garden is mentioned in his autobiographical
poem The Prelude and today wander through the garden
at leisure, as Wordsworth would have done over 200 years
ago. |
