Rydal

Rydal Mount is where famed Lakelands poet William Wordsworth lived for the last 37 years of his life, infecting his poetic philosophy with the intoxicating woodland and greenery that surrounds it. The home has spectacular views of the area, with both Grasmere and Windermere lakes visible from its hillslope grounds that Wordsworth carefully curated, calling the wild gardens that he grew his real writers’ office. This was a true Romantic safe-haven.

The home is now a museum dedicated to the author, retaining much of its original, lived-in character to amplify echoes of the life that Wordsworth and his friends walked the paradisal property. The house itself dates to well before Wordsworth’s time, having been built in the 16th century as an old Tudor cottage, and is littered with various artefacts, possessions, and first editions cherished by the Wordsworth family. Meanwhile, the five acres of garden keep largely with how Wordsworth, a keen landscape gardener who sought to capture the essence of the English countryside in his designs, intended them, consisting of fell-side terraces, rock pools, and even an ancient, 9th-century mound said to have once been a beacon to warn of coming Border Raiders. Visit the home and wander the idyllic grounds for a true escape into the Lake District’s Romantic past.

Rydal Mount is undoubtedly humble Rydal’s main attraction, however the village is a sort of undiscovered treasure trove brimming with smaller, unspoken pearls of pristine beauty for the lucky traveller to uncover. Rydal Hall is a foreboding stately home and hotel that dominates the town’s architecture and has beautiful Picturesque gardens dating to the mid-17th century and formal gardens designed by Arts and Crafts landscape artist Thomas Hayton Mawson. In keeping with Picturesque doctrine, the cartography of the native landscapes were incorporated into the original gardens’ designs, including babbling Rydal Beck and its natural waterfalls. This led to the development of ‘The Grot’, a small stone brook-side summerhouse with privileged waterfall views that became a haunt for visiting artists in the 18th and 19th centuries. Wordsworth described ‘The Grot’ in an early 1793 poem called “An Evening Walk”. Elsewhere in the gardens are the Italianate additions of Mawson, sculpture trails, and potential sightings of rare red squirrels.

St. Mary’s Church, built as a private worship chapel by the Fleming family - occupants of Rydal Hall - in the 19th century backs onto Dora’s Field, a beautiful daffodil field that Wordsworth devoted to his daughter Dora when she tragically died of tuberculosis in 1847. Then descend towards Rydal Water and embark on the scenic “Wordsworth Walk” around its edge. It takes about two hours to complete and was one of the poet’s favourite local routes, hence its name. Along the walk you will also encounter Dove Cottage, another of Wordsworth’s former homes, his grave at Grasmere Church, and Wordsworth’s Seat, a secluded viewpoint that was one of his favourite writing spots. Or, take a short detour to Rydal Cave, the remnants of a 19th-century slate quarry open for the public to explore; and Nab Cottage, an 16th-century whitewashed retreat that was once home of Thomas de Quincy, one of Wordsworth’s contemporaries.