Dove Cottage, Home of William Wordsworth
On a warm summer’s day my family and I drove from Keswick to Grasmere to visit the former home of the famous Romantic poet, William Wordsworth. I have often thought that with a name like that he couldn’t help but be a poet, and my teenage daughter remarked the same last week after asking, “Is that really his name?”
I was acquainted with a few Wordsworth poems before our visit to Dove Cottage. As an 8th grader I memorized I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, and on a brief stop at his birthplace in Cockermouth I purchased a small book of his poetry*. Visiting Dove Cottage taught me more about the poet’s life, how he lived here with his sister, Dorothy, for nearly three years before marrying Mary Hutchinson. The setting is stunning, the perfect place for a life of walking and writing.
The diamond-paned windows were my favorite part of the house, along with a his and hers washbasin given as a wedding gift. The house contains many of Wordsworth’s belongings, such as his spectacles, suitcase, and passport. After recently reading Home at Grasmere, a collection of Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere journal intermingled with William’s poems, I was happy I’d had the privilege of visiting and could imagine the window seat she mentions him napping in and the shelter built at the top of their fellside garden.
The garden in summer was filled with ferns and wildflowers. A book sits in the shelter of the “Poetry Nook” where visitors are invited to write their own lines. The attached museum is filled with interesting items and information about the Wordsworth’s lives. After your visit you can walk to St. Oswald’s where they are buried in the churchyard. Admire the lake and visit the local bookshop, and whatever you do, do not neglect the purchasing of the famous Grasmere gingerbread. You can find some more pictures around Dove Cottage in the Cumbria Picture Gallery.
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