Wordsworth Grasmere

Wordsworth Grasmere Whilst living at Dove Cottage, Wordsworth produced most of his greatest and best-loved poems. He had known the valley as a boy, describing it as ‘paradise’.

In 1799, while on a walking tour of the Lake District, William Wordsworth saw Dove Cottage in Grasmere and decided to make it his home. Within a few weeks, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy had moved in and were busily furnishing the home and planning a garden. It was whilst living here that Wordsworth produced most of his greatest and best-loved poems, and Dorothy wrote her fascinating Grasmere j

ournal. A visit to Dove Cottage today transports you back to this remarkable period of ‘plain living and high thinking’. The sights, sounds and smells bring to life the bustling family home the Wordsworths would have known over 200 years ago. In this humble Lake District cottage, you can feel how a unique combination of people and place came together and changed poetry forever.

📚Simon Armitage: An Evening in Grasmere🌙📅Tuesday 1 September, 7.30pm at The Daffodil Hotel & Spa 🐦Tickets: Special early...
06/06/2026

📚Simon Armitage: An Evening in Grasmere🌙

📅Tuesday 1 September, 7.30pm at The Daffodil Hotel & Spa

🐦Tickets: Special early-bird price of £18 if you book in June!

Join Poet Laureate Simon Armitage for an unmissable poetry reading in Grasmere. The event will take place at the Daffodil Hotel – on the shore of Grasmere lake and only a short walk from Dove Cottage, where former Poet Laureate William Wordsworth wrote some of his greatest poetry.

Simon Armitage is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. A recipient of numerous prizes and awards, his collections include Magnetic Field (2020), Never Good with Horses (2023), Blossomise (2024) and Dwell (2025).

Copies of Simon Armitage’s books will be on sale (cash and card) with a book signing following the reading. Drinks will be available from the Lobby Bar.

Book now: https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/events/simon-armitage-2026/

🌿Weeds & Wildflowers: A Loose Leaf Poetry Workshop🌸📅Saturday 20 June, 2.30pmJoin us in the Café for a writing workshop t...
05/06/2026

🌿Weeds & Wildflowers: A Loose Leaf Poetry Workshop🌸

📅Saturday 20 June, 2.30pm

Join us in the Café for a writing workshop themed around weeds and wildflowers. Led by poet Jessica Sneddon, this relaxed creative writing workshop explores our relationships with plants through poetry. Explore the language of plants in our lives, from the flowers we gift to one another to the words we use to categorise wildflowers and weeds.

We will read a selection of contemporary and historical poems together as a starting point for your own creative work. There will be a range of writing prompts and no previous experience is necessary.

Tickets: https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/events/weeds-and-wildflowers-workshop/

'It was a very sweet morning there had been much rain in the night. William had slept miserably—but knowing this I lay i...
04/06/2026

'It was a very sweet morning there had been much rain in the night. William had slept miserably—but knowing this I lay in bed while he got some sleep but was much disordered, he shaved himself then we went into the orchard—dined late. In the evening we walked on our favorite path. Then we came in & sate in the orchard. The evening was dark & warm—a tranquil night—I left William in the orchard. I read Mother Hubbard's tale before I went to bed.'

Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere journal, 4 June 1802



📸Gareth Gardner / Tom McNally

🥀Come along to our Gothic summer garden party on 16 July! 🦇Our next exhibition 'Ghost Story! Into the Gothic Imagination...
03/06/2026

🥀Come along to our Gothic summer garden party on 16 July! 🦇

Our next exhibition 'Ghost Story! Into the Gothic Imagination' opens in July and we are celebrating it in style with this special evening event...

Step into a Gothic tale as you explore our immersive exhibition, where moonlit woodlands, haunted villas and eerie seascapes surround rare treasures, including a first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Lord Byron’s snuffbox.

Visit candlelit Dove Cottage after hours and enjoy live Gothic poetry performances in the Garden-Orchard. Drinks and summer refreshments will be available from our Café, where you will be able to try your hand at writing your own spooky tale.

Gothic dress and costumes encouraged! We will also have Regency costumes and accessories for you to try on so that you can take the perfect Gothic selfie.

Thursday 16 July, 6-9pm. Book now: https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/events/ghost-story-gothic-garden-party/

📸Caroline Robinson

Have you been inspired by Mary Bennet to dive deeper into the world of the Wordsworths?You’re not alone – we’ve loved we...
29/05/2026

Have you been inspired by Mary Bennet to dive deeper into the world of the Wordsworths?

You’re not alone – we’ve loved welcoming so many The Other Bennet Sister-inspired visitors to Wordsworth Grasmere recently and now it’s even easier to find the poetry, objects and stories behind the BBC adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel.

Follow the trail map to discover the poetry that opened Mary’s imagination to the healing power of nature.

Who knows what else you’ll find along the way…

Head to the website to download your very own trail map and plan your visit this summer.

Your bonnet, cravat and copy of Lyrical Ballads await…

wordsworth.org.uk/the-other-bennet-sister

Have you been inspired by Mary Bennet to dive deeper into the world of the Wordsworths?You’re not alone – we’ve loved we...
29/05/2026

Have you been inspired by Mary Bennet to dive deeper into the world of the Wordsworths?

You’re not alone – we’ve loved welcoming so many The Other Bennet Sister-inspired visitors to Wordsworth Grasmere recently and now it’s even easier to find the poetry, objects and stories behind the BBC adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel.

Follow the trail map to discover the poetry that opened Mary’s imagination to the healing power of nature.

Who knows what else you’ll find along the way…

Head to the link in the bio to download your very own trail map and plan your visit this summer.

Your bonnet, cravat and copy of Lyrical Ballads await…

This week we take a final look at our 'What We Treasure' exhibition, and we've saved one of our favourite treasures unti...
28/05/2026

This week we take a final look at our 'What We Treasure' exhibition, and we've saved one of our favourite treasures until last. This portrait, painted by Scottish watercolourist Margaret Gillies, depicts Dora Wordsworth, the beloved eldest daughter of William and Mary Wordsworth. A woman full of life and fun, her Aunt Dorothy once described her as being ‘of the dancing brood, and given to ecstasy’. Interestingly, this portrait was altered: Dora herself asked for her nose to be made smaller.

With our next exhibition just around the corner, this is your last chance to see Dora’s portrait and more in 'What We Treasure', open until Saturday 6 June.

Image: Dora Wordsworth by Margaret Gillies, 1839. Watercolour on Ivory.

'I walked to Ambleside with letters—met the post before I reached Mr Partridges, one paper, only a letter for Coleridge—...
27/05/2026

'I walked to Ambleside with letters—met the post before I reached Mr Partridges, one paper, only a letter for Coleridge—I expected a letter from Wm. It was a sweet morning, the ashes in the valleys nearly in full leaf but still to be distinguished, quite bare on the higher grounds. I was warm in returning, & becoming cold with sitting in the house—I had a bad head-ach—went to bed after dinner, & lay till after 5—not well after tea. I worked in the garden, but did not walk further. A delightful evening before the Sun set but afterwards it grew colder. Mended stockings &c.'

Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere journal, 27 May 1800



📸Gareth Gardner / Caroline Robinson

'Sauntered a good deal in the garden, bound carpets, mended old clothes. Read Timon of Athens. Dried linen—Molly weeded ...
19/05/2026

'Sauntered a good deal in the garden, bound carpets, mended old clothes. Read Timon of Athens. Dried linen—Molly weeded the turnips, John stuck the peas. We had not much sunshine or wind but no rain till about 7 o'clock when we had a slight shower just after I had set out upon my walk.

'I did not return but walked up into the Black quarter. I sauntered a long time among the rocks above the church. The most delightful situation possible for a cottage commanding two distinct views of the vale & of the lake, is among those rocks—I strolled on, gathered mosses, &c.

'The quietness & still seclusion of the valley affected me even to producing the deepest melancholy—I forced myself from it. The wind rose before I went to bed. No rain—Dodwell & Wilkinson called in my absence.'

Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere journal, 19 May 1800



📸Gareth Gardner / Caroline Robinson

Our next 'Go to the poets, they will speak to thee' online event is on 10 June with Kim Moore and Jean Sprackland.Ticket...
17/05/2026

Our next 'Go to the poets, they will speak to thee' online event is on 10 June with Kim Moore and Jean Sprackland.

Tickets: https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/events/go-to-the-poets-jean-sprackland/

Jean will be reading from her recently published poetry collection Goyle, Chert, Mire (Cape, 2026). Jean’s collection explores the Blackdown Hills as a landscape where past and present meet.

Wordsworth’s poetry is rooted in such moments of transition: the instant when perception alters, when memory rises to meet the present, when the mind becomes attentive to what lies just beyond the familiar. Sprackland’s book traces similar thresholds—between illness and recovery, clarity and distortion, landscape and consciousness—revealing how these crossings shape our understanding of place and self.

Our open mic theme then is an invitation to engage with boundaries of any kind—geographical, temporal, emotional or cognitive—echoing the transformative encounters at the heart of both Sprackland’s work and Wordsworth’s enduring vision. Open mic slots are limited and must be booked in advance.

Address

A591, South Of Grasmere
Grasmere
LA229SH

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+441539435544

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