Whilst in the North Lakes this spring, let the swathes of yellow daffodils \u201cdancing in the breeze\u201d, move you as they did William and his sister, Dorothy, as they chanced upon a \u201ccrowd\u201d of them at Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater<\/a>, on 15 April 1802. Wordsworth also wrote three poems inspired by the nearby Aira Force on Ullswater, which is set amongst ancient woodland and is the most popular fall walk in the Lake District. Let yourself be carried away with the raw beauty of the north Lake District landscape.<\/p>\n L-R: Hawkshead, Allen Bank, Rydal Mount<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n William\u2019s Lake District journey then takes us to the pretty village of Hawkshead, located in the South Lakes. Here, William lodged with Ann Tyson, and you can visit this house on the narrow cobbled streets. It\u2019s at the highly-regarded Grammar School that William learned about literature and gained a deep love of poetry, writing his first poem at 14 years old. Wordsworth famously described poetry as, \u201cthe spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquillity.\u201d<\/p>\n During his time at Hawkshead school, the aspiring poet enjoyed relative freedom to observe the tranquillity of the local scenery, fishing, boating, skating on the frozen lakes, horse riding, roaming the fells and even sleeping alone in the forest at night. In 1787, he went to Cambridge University, returning for summer holidays to Hawkshead. Hawkshead school opens this spring from 1 April 2020, and you can see William carved his name in one of the wooden school desks, as though he knew of his future legacy. Catch a Windermere Lake Cruise as Wordsworth the schoolboy did or explore the quiet shore of Windermere\u2019s western shore, walking in the footsteps of one of the greatest writers there ever was.<\/p>\n Upon graduating from university and whilst living in Dorset, William and his poet-friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge took a tour of the Lake District, from the Eden Valley to Wasdale Head, via Grasmere, which William fell in love with. In 1799 William and his sister moved to Dove Cottage, Grasmere, which was an empty inn called The Dove and Olive. For 2020, Dove Cottage has undergone a huge restoration, returning it to as it would have been when William lived there from 1799\u00a0 to 1808. This was Wordsworth\u2019s most prolific writing period and where he revolutionised English poetry forever. To mark the intrinsic link between his writing and the local landscape, the project will also open up a woodland space and new viewing station as well as new walking trails. Also, just down the road, the vivid story continues at The William Wordsworth Museum, which is hosting the \u00a36.3m \u2018Reimagining William Wordsworth<\/em>\u2019 project. This brings Wordsworth\u2019s story into the 21st century and is not to be missed.<\/p>\n After marrying his childhood friend Mary Hutchinson and having his own family, in the summer of 1807 the Wordsworth\u2019s rented Allan Bank (Grasmere) where they stayed for three years. Here the Wordsworth children played on the slopes of Silver How and on the shore of Grasmere lake, whilst William Wordsworth walked, wrote and entertained like-minded artists, such as Thomas De Quincey. It\u2019s a great place to go for a woodland walk or a picnic in the garden. Visit in spring to enjoy a garden of daffodils and it\u2019s also one of the Lake District\u2019s little-known red squirrel spots.<\/p>\n William used to say that he would have been a landscape gardener had he not been a poet, according to Peter Elkington, curator of Rydal Mount. Nestled between Grasmere<\/a> and Ambleside<\/a>, this is where William spent his final 37 years in his most-loved home, Rydal Mount.<\/p>\n Indeed, the 5-acre garden is today as it was when William designed it himself. He referred to his grounds as his office, as William wrote whilst walking and would pace the garden daily, with his sister following taking notes. Rydal Mount gardens are a sight to behold in spring, with banks of daffodils set to a backdrop of glorious views of Lake Windermere<\/a>. It is open from 3 April 2020, 7 days a week. Still owned by the Wordsworth family, this is perhaps the most important of William Wordsworth\u2019s homes to visit. And for the 250-year celebrations, a treasure trove of Wordsworth\u2019s belongings that have never appeared on public display before, will be on show at Rydal Mount.<\/p>\n Between Grasmere and Rydal there are lots of places to visit that were special to William in his later life. A walk around the lakes of Grasmere and Rydal is a must, especially in spring. In 1847, William lost a third child to illness and he and his wife and head gardener planted hundreds of daffodil bulbs in her memory in a field next to St Mary\u2019s Church, Rydal. \u2018Dora\u2019s Field\u2019 is maintained by the National Trust and is a must for visiting in spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Celebrating 250 years of William Wordsworth in the Lake District. Visit with Lakelovers and learn more about Attractions, Family Friendly, General in the Lakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":1014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions\/2233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lakelovers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/10\/winter-emma-2-768x240.png\")
<\/p>\nHawkshead, South Lake District<\/a><\/h4>\n
Grasmere, Central Lakes<\/a><\/h4>\n
Rydal Mount and Gardens, Ambleside<\/a><\/h4>\n