Dove Cottage is the former home of one of England’s greatest writers, William Wordsworth. He drew inspiration for many of his most acclaimed works from the Lake District, while living here with his sister Dorothy for more than 8 years from 1799. Look around the eight rooms across two floors in the house to see the poet’s original possessions.
Read the lines of the poet’s most remembered work, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. It portrays the moment he and his sister stumbled across a row of daffodils. After a few years, Wordsworth wed Mary and the family began to expand with three children.
Note how the house retains its centuries-old feel with original furnishings and décor from the poet’s time here. This includes wood wall panels, radiant coal fires and slate floors typical of Lake District houses at the time. Discover intriguing exhibits relating to Wordsworth and a variety of other themes.
Meditate in the enchanting garden, where the family grew vegetables and flowers. Imagine the quaint, rural life of this Lake District poet. Next door is the Wordsworth Museum, which contains vast collections of the writer’s letters, poems and belongings as well as Dorothy’s Grasmere Journal. The Jerwood Centre holds 65,000 items from Wordsworth and other writers and can be accessed for research.
Learn about 18th-century essayist Thomas de Quincey, who inhabited Dove Cottage after the Wordsworths. He is attributed with starting the movement of addiction literature with his writing on opium dependence.
Find out the history of the house, which predates the writer and his family. It was built in the early 1600s as a public inn known as the Dove and Olive Branch.
There is a fee to enter the house, with discounts for kids and families. The price includes a guided tour of the house, which opens daily from morning until late afternoon. Check for closures in winter.
Drive northwest for 4 miles (6.5 kilometres) from the centre of Ambleside to reach Dove Cottage in the village of Grasmere. Cross two tributaries of the River Rothay, then travel past its wider sections on the 11-minute journey. A bus takes passengers from central Ambleside to the cottage.
