William Wordsworth’s Connection to the Lake District
Grasmere is a pretty town in the Lake District, which houses the former home and burial place of poet William Wordsworth, one of England’s most celebrated poets. It is a bit over-commercialised now (you can imagine – like Stratford-upon-Avon with Shakespeare, everything is ‘linked’ to Wordsworth for tourism income).
If you have flower-eating dogs, know that daffodils (like all bulbs) are unsafe near animal friends. Read more on pet-friendly gardens.
But William (and his sister Dorothy) did not just confine themselves to Grasmere. Interestingly, William campaigned a few hundreds years ago against the building of Windermere railway station, believing that the influx of tourists would ruin his beloved Lakes. He was right.
His sister was also very vocal, her and a fellow writer protesting against the the found house built on the Lake District’s largest island of Belle Isle, calling it a beautiful spot that now ‘deformed by man’, and resembling a tea canister.
Wordsworth’s final home of Rydal Mount is just a short hop away from Ambleside, one of the Lake District’s prettier towns, although again a bit overrun with tourists in summer. This town apparently has the country’s busiest mountain rescue team, due to inexperienced climbers frequently getting lost of stranded.
It does remain one of the few towns, where you can literally walk from the town centre, to discover a tumbling waterfall, right on your doorstep!
When out walking, follow the Countryside Code to help protect all creatures.
Hawkshead is a pretty ‘chocolate box’ village in the southern Lake District, near Esthwaite Water (one of the smaller and quieter lakes, known for its wild ospreys). It has strong literary connections, being where Grasmere poet William Wordsworth attended school.
Hawkshead Grammar School is now a museum, as when numbers dwindled to just six students, it had to close. Wordsworth was vocal that his favourite teacher was William Taylor who taught poetry, but sadly he died age just 32, from TB.
One previous headmaster caused controversy after he had ‘got with a child’ with the local servant girl, and was brought before magistrates. He was still allowed to teach, to the dismay of local residents.
