Wordsworth's Lakes by Daphne Beames

Heading for our hotel near Penrith we passed rustic, half-timbered country inns sporting picturesque swing signs embossed with quaint names like “The Herdwick” at Penruddock and (waxing lyrical over the literary associations) drove through the near-mythical, stone village of Greystoke - famous as the fictional home of Tarzan. The stage was set.

We were bound for the Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel – a legend in the Lake Country, rising Brigadoon-like from the mists on the leafy banks of Lake Ullswater. This 1840’s-style homestead - in a woodland setting with the Barton Mountains as a backdrop and a lake lapping its perfumed gardens – is the last word in English country house elegance.

The delightful rooms are decorated with polished antiques, pastel fabrics, delicate porcelain and cut flowers. In the excellent restaurant, the traditional cuisine features fish from the bay, game from the woods and a unique treat - the original, Icky Sticky Toffee Pudding - first created here! The wild banks are tinted with the mauves and yellows of periwinkle and primrose and, to add to the glamour, Gowborrow Park on the shores of the lake is the probable site of the inspiration for Wordsworth’s popular poem: “The Daffodils”.

The very nature of this ethereal terrain - carved out by pre-historic glaciers and glimmering in muted greens and aquamarines - spells foggy, wet and damp and the best months to visit are from June to early September, when a watery sun warms the fells as it filters earthward through the cloud. (As an option to car hire, minibus tours criss-cross the Lake District – taking in all major centres and sights.)

Our first, day trip was to Cockermouth on the edge of Lakeland - a picturesque, Georgian market town at the confluence of Rivers Cocker and Derwent - included in the 1965 list of ‘gem towns’ and famous as the birthplace and childhood home of William Wordsworth. At the west end of the tree-lined Main Street is the crushed-pink Wordsworth House. Once through the pillared portico, costumed attendants interpret scenes from yesteryear, guide the visitor to the children’s bedroom - filled with toys from 18th-century - and proffer a glimpse into the workings of a period kitchen. The large back garden, now re-cultivated with traditional plants, was the Wordsworth children’s favourite playground.

Stroll back in time to the recently restored, 13th-century Market Square – surrounded by cobbled alleys and steep, twisting lanes; classical, terraced housing and tiny dye workers’ cottages. The authentically preserved façade of the hardware merchants: ‘J.B. Banks & Son Ltd.’ is a piquant page from a by-gone year. The pedestrianised, arts and cultural zone around the market place also boasts many elegant, Georgian residences and traditional, thick-walled stone buildings with colourful green, slate roofs.

Other attractions include Jennings Brewery at the foot of Cockermouth Castle – last remaining brewery in Cumbria and long renowned for its local brew; the Lakeland Sheep and Wool Centre - offering short presentations in its theatre; the Printing House Museum on Main Street and leisurely carriage rides - pulled by wonderful shire horses.

Our return trip took us through the National Park: past rolling downs, steep hills, hump-backed bridges and crystal streams – all set in a soft light, almost a misty haze - to the dark, still waters of Bassenthwaite Lake. This ancient, glacially eroded valley - home to the heron and cormorant and framed by beautiful, gnarled trees; delicate shrubs and ferns - was once a Neolithic farming community.

On the eastern side is Mirehouse: a small open-air theatre built for special readings of Lord Tennyson’s ‘Morte d’Arthur’ (most of the epic poem is thought to have been composed on this site). Three Poet Laureates are honoured here: Wordsworth, Southey and Tennyson and in the grounds - framed by the Ullcock Pike - stands the miniscule, pre-Norman chapel of St. Bega. (Bassenthwaite is the only one of the Cumbrian Lakes to bear the name ‘lake’: all the others are termed ‘mere’, ‘water’ or ‘tarn’.)

Our drive carried us along winding country roads – past countless long-haired sheep and black-faced lambs - to Buttermere (Lake of the Dairy Pastures) and as we approached the junction of the Newlands and Honister passes a small, stone church set by the wayside so enchanted that we stopped the car. St James’s Church in the village of Buttermere is distinguished by its antique, wrought-iron Shepherd’s Gate; an early 19th-century organ and stunning, green-tinted stained glass windows.

This small chapel so impressed the sensitive Wordsworth that he wrote: “A man must be very unsensible who would not be touched at the sight of the chapel of Buttermere”. A few farms and houses, two small hotels, a tea room and a village hall make up the full complement of this not-to-be-missed hamlet. (The largest single owner of the Lakeland Parks is the National Trust Authority – one of its first members was Beatrix Potter, writer and illustrator of children’s books. She became a sheep farmer in the Lake District and donated her home, her land and many of her paintings to the Trust. The Beatrix Potter Museum is at Windermere.)

Our next foray was to the attractive, market town of Keswick situated at the northern end of Derwent Water. This lake is by common consent the most beautiful in all England - numerous islets enhance its charm and the curious action of marsh gas occasionally causes a ‘floating island’ of indigenous weed to rise to the surface. Attractions in the town include the handsome Moot Hall – now the tourist office – and the Cumberland Pencil Museum.

Don’t miss a must-see monument radiating magic from a nearby hilltop: the intriguing and much visited, 4000 year old ‘Stone Circle of Castlerigg’. The setting for this pre-historic, talismanic ring - a natural amphitheatre on an ancient plateau – affords an exceptional view of the highest peaks in Cumbria.

To the south - below the rocky heights of Helm Crag, lies the tiny village of Grassmere. Here, at ‘Dove Cottage’, William Wordsworth lived with his sister and wife, Mary, from 1799 to 1808. Here, much of his best work was written and his three eldest children were born: John, Dora and Thomas. Guided tours of the cottage - where S. T. Coleridge was a frequent visitor - take 25 minutes. The downstairs parlour, which also served as a dining room, is panelled in oak and has a slate floor; a spring runs under the larder, and in the upstairs study Wordsworth wrote his poems. There is a small orchard and, in the intimate garden, roses, honeysuckle and wild flowers bloom. A museum and a tea shop are attached to the house. The poet is buried in the family plot at near-by St. Oswald’s Parish Church. Be sure to visit the ‘Old Gingerbread Shop’ beside the lych-gate of the Church – originally the village school house, this has been a bakery for 130 years.

Sign-posted, but easy to miss is ‘Rydal Mount’, the home of the Wordsworth family - from 1813 for the next thirty-seven years. The house and gardens were bought in 1969 by Mary Henderson (née Wordsworth) the great great granddaughter of the poet, and opened to the public the following year. Her family regularly stay in the much-loved house.

Souvenir shops in the Lake District specialise in Lakeland knitwear, Beatrix Potter books and figurines, Kendal mint cake and Heaton Cooper watercolours.

“Earth has not anything to show more fair.” Although Wordsworth wrote this line with London in mind, his native Lake District shows some of the fairest countryside in all the British Isles!