Dove Cottage in Grasmere is one of three sites in the Lake District that William Wordsworth was connected to during his lifetime; the others being his birthplace in Cockermouth, and his final home at Rydal Mount.
It was on a wintry weekend trip to the Lake District that I visited the home where Wordsworth lived when he wrote his most famous works. I thought it a bit on the expensive side for a 20-minute guided tour of such a small house, but the cost did include access to the museum, which has been built next door to Dove Cottage, and where plenty of Wordsworth’s belongings can be seen. Objects belonging to Wordsworth’s wife Mary, sister Dorothy, and fellow writer Coleridge are also on display here.
It is a very pretty cottage retaining many original features, but for preservation purposes the floors have been heavily varnished and the walls painted. In each room, however, a small square patch of wall has been left unpainted so visitors can see the surface as Wordsworth’s family would have had it. One room has also been plastered with newspaper articles to represent how Dorothy had attempted to insulate the home. Through the many layers of varnish, a black burn mark could be seen at the top of the stairs; this was apparently caused after Mary Wordsworth carried a bucket of hot coals up the stairs, leaving it briefly to attend to the children. This resulted in a circular black burn being marked into the wood, which we can still see today.
Other features of the house include wash stands, beds, portraits, silhouettes of Dorothy and Mary, a range, open fires, chairs, and a chaise longue. Despite these items though, the cottage still appears quite empty, and so it is possible that belongings and furniture were either given away or sold during the family’s time here.
To provide some historical background, William Wordsworth moved to Dove Cottage in December 1799 after passing it on a tour of the region with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and seeing it up for let; he thought it an ideal place for himself and his sister Dorothy. Moving from their home in Dorset, this relocation marked Wordsworth’s return to the Lake District, having been born on the outskirts of the national park in Cockermouth where he lived as a child in Hawkshead. The Wordworths later left Dove Cottage in May 1808, moving locally to Allen Bank in Grasmere and remaining here for two years before moving again to the rectory opposite St. Oswald Church. They moved finally to Rydal Mount where Wordsworth would eventually die on 23 April 1850.
Although his residences are open to the public, visitors can only expect to get a partial feel for these places as Wordsworth would have seen them and lived in them. Whilst he had a view of Grasmere Lake and its natural beauty, today that view is obstructed by new builds that are rather modern looking and not in keeping with Dove Cottage’s simple but rustic aesthetic. It is interesting though, to see how things have evolved and changed over time. Even if you could still see across Grasmere Lake, the view would be somewhat different to the undeveloped view as Wordsworth would have seen it.
If you are a lover of Wordsworth and the Romantic poets, I would recommend visiting this cottage where Wordsworth lived whilst writing his some of his best works. As a visitor you are able to get a feel for his domestic life and situation, which provide a more realistic, interesting, and rich historical insight. These are the features and characteristics that make Wordsworth’s personal history come alive.
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