Hawkshead is one of the Lake Districts most unspoilt traditional Lakeland villages. Filled with an abundance of cafes, pubs, shops and things to do, Hawkshead is a must see. Meander the village capturing the perfect Instagram shot or just sit back with a coffee and watch the world go by.

The museum of Brantwood is the former home of John Ruskin. A vibrant centre for the arts and has a wealth of things to see and do for the whole family. Brantwood offers a fascinating insight into the world of John Ruskin and the last 28 years of his life spent in the Lakes. Filled with many fine paintings, beautiful furniture and Ruskin’s personal treasures, the house retains the character of its famous resident. Visitors are free to explore the rooms and house stewards are on hand to answer questions. Not just for the adults, there is a range of quizzes and activities for children to enjoy too!

Coniston’s superb Ruskin museum is the most thought provoking in the Lakes. Inspirational and award winning it tells the storey of Coniston from the first Stone Age fell walkers, who made and traded stone axes, to the Jet Era when the 1950s speed ace Donald Campbell used Coniston Water as Bluebird K7’s race-track. The Ruskin Museum’s Coniston Gallery introduces 500 million year old rocks, and one of the first Rock Bands, who played musical stones. It examines the mines that helped to copper bottom Naval and merchant wooden ships, and the Lakeland slate quarries that have roofed the world. Study here the dry stone and cobble walls that stride the fells, and look at the truth to local stone, slate and oak, exemplified in traditional vernacular buildings.

In 1795 the Wordsworth’s stayed in a cottage in Dorset, where they met Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. In the years ahead a close relationship developed between William, Dorothy and Coleridge. William and Coleridge then undertook a tour of the Lake District, starting at Temple Sowerby, and finishing at Wasdale Head, via Grasmere. At Grasmere they saw Dove Cottage, then an empty Inn called the Dove and Olive Branch. In December of 1799 William and Dorothy moved into Dove Cottage, in Grasmere. Dorothy was William’s secretary, as William dictated his poetry. In 1802 William married his childhood companion Mary Hutchinson, and the first three of their five children were born.

Rydal Mount, in the heart of the Lake District , commands glorious views of Lake Windermere, Rydal Water and the surrounding fells. It was the home of William Wordsworth from 1813 to 1850. The house, which now belongs to the descendants of the poet, retains a lived in family atmosphere, and has changed little since Wordsworth and his family came to live here. They rented the house from Lady le Fleming, of nearby Rydal Hall. The rooms on show are those of the family bedrooms of William and Mary, Dorothy, and Dora, and Wordsworth’s attic study, which he used when he was Poet Laureate. The house contains portraits, personal possessions and first editions of the poet’s work. Wordsworth was a keen landscape gardener with the four acre garden remaining much as he designed it. Consisting of rare shrubs, fellside terraces, lawns, rock pools and an ancient 9th Century mound leftover from its use as a site for a Beacon Fire to warn of impending Border Raiders.