May 24: Wordsworth, the Lake Country, and Beatrix Potter

Today was dedicated mainly to Wordsworth and the Lake District.

Today we drove first to Cockermouth, in the Buttermere Valley (our best placename of the day is Giggleswick) and saw the Wordsworth House and Garden.  The house is very interesting, and we were givena presentation on Georgian pastimes, but for me the highlight was talking to the gardener who was painstakingly replaceing the garden after the flood of 2009.  She told me the correct name for "Doc Martin flowers" (red valerian, if you care to know), and was really excited about espaliering some heritage pears.  

In the kitchen of the house where Wordsworth was born.

Writing with a quill

A presentation on pastimes and entertainment.

 We drove off through the Lake District, seeing lush green countryside, until we got to Dove Cottage, now managed by the Wordsworth Trust.  This is the place where Wordsworth lived with his sister Dorothy, and where he married and his three children were born, but most importantly, it is where he was most creative.  I was thrilled to be sitting in the bower in the same spot where Coleridge sat as they collaborated, and where so many important poets, writers and thinkers of the day visited.  These include de Quincey, who took over the lease and lived in the cottage afterward, but also Walter Scott, Southey, and Hazlitt.  There is an excellent museum on the site.  After our visit to the cottage, Alanna and I walked into Grasmere and saw the church and the Wordsworth graves, then had a very unusual cheese sandwiches at a little restaurant on the river.

 

We drank a LOT of water today.  Alanna just outside the Wordsworth Museum.

The Wordworth's garden

Grasmere

A bird

Next we headed off to the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead.  We saw the black and white drawings of the first edition of Peter Rabbit, before she cut the story down and colored the drawings.  The town itself is very pretty, although very touristy.  It was also very hot, and we went off in search of water.  

We headed back down the narrow narrow narrow roads with their stonewalls on either side, and suddenly appearing buses  to Windermere, where we had hoped to see a Roman Fort, but although we found the car park, we couldn't find the site, and although it was nearly 6:00, we were getting sunburnt!

We headed off to our hotel in Shipley and arrived at 7:30, only to find that our top floor room was too hot to occupy.  We'd arrived too late for the "first come, first serve' parking, too late to get a fan, and so I decided to go off and do laundry.  Unfortunately, the directions they gave me to the laundromat didn't work either, so I came back and Alanna and I have done laundry in the nice cold shower.  It is now draining out the window onto the roof!

Tomorrow we are off to see the Bronte's town of Haworth, then we will be packing everything into a manageable and movable form, as it will be our last day with the car.