Grasmere in the English Lake District of Cumbria

The English Lake District
Day Trips from Manchester in the Northwest of England

Aerial Photograph of Grasmere
courtesy of www.webbaviation.co.uk Copyright © 2005.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Grasmere is a pretty little village which owes most of its current popularity as a tourist attraction to the fact of William Wordsworth's birth and having lived there.

He is also buried in a large family plot in the cemetery behind St. Oswald's Parish Church.

Highly exploited as a tourist centre, Grasmere has an inordinate number of large hotels, considering its small size, and almost every other shop is a tourist trinket shop, most of which offer regional specialities such as Lakeland knitwear, Kendal mint cake, vast arrays of artefacts in local slate, colour postcards, Beatrix Potter figures and books, and assorted "rural" goodies.

It also is home to the Heaton Cooper Gallery, where this local Lakeland watercolour artist permanently exhibits and sells his works.

William Wordsworth, the internationally famous Lakeland poet was born and lived most of his life in the Lake District. From 1799-1808 he lived at Dove Cottage in the village of Grasmere, and from 1813 to his death in 1850 he made his home at Rydal Mount (see below), overlooking the smallest lake in the National Park, Rydal Water.

One of Grasmere's curiosities is its old Gingerbread Shop situated by the Lych Gate of St Oswald's Parish Church.

Originally the village school house from 1660-1854, it has since then been a celebrated gingerbread bakery for 130 years, where Sarah Nelson's original "secret" recipe has been scrupulously followed. Gingerbread is despatched from here to all parts of the British Isles and world-wide.

Book a Grasmere Hotel or Guest House

Grasmere with Helvelyn in the background mists

William Wordsworth

Wordsworth's Dove Cottage

Grasmere's celebrated
Gingerbread Shop

Wordsworth's Grave

St Oswald's Parish Church

Photos by John Moss

Grasmere is also a major starting point for hill walking, giving access to the Langdales and to Easdale Tarn, in summer the latter being a pleasant 3 hour stroll (in summertime at least), and well worth the trek. Large car parking (paying) to south and north of the village, a few minutes walk - practically no parking central. Buses to the village from Windermere and Keswick.

The everyday life of the Wordsworth family is recorded in the famous journals of William's sister, Dorothy, to whom he was entirely devoted. Many of his best known poems were penned here, including "Ode : Intimations of "Immortality", "Michael" and "Resolution and Independence". Guided tour of the cottage are on offer, which includes collections of his manuscripts, various pictures and personal memorabilia.

Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum
The Wordsworth Trust, Dove Cottage, Grasmere LA22 9SH.
Telephone: 015394 35544. Fax: 015394 35748.
Email: enquiries@wordsworth.org.uk.
Website: www.wordsworth.org.uk.

Attached to Dove Cottage, this award winning museum contains much of Wordsworth's work, as well as a collection of early watercolour paintings of the Lake District. A book, gift and souvenir shop is on site, and there is a Dove Cottage teashop. Special exhibitions are mounted throughout the year and school parties are catered for. Owned by the Wordsworth Trust, a registered charity founded in 1890.
Admissison charges apply: adult ticket - £6.00, child ticket - £3.75. Discounted tickets are available for seniors, families, students and those who collect a reciprocal discount voucher from either Rydal Mount and Gardens or Wordsworth House, Cockermouth.
Opening: Every day from 9.30am - 5.30pm. Last admission is 5.00pm. Occasionally closed for essential conservation work - please phone to check before setting out as times and/or prices may have changed since writing.
Buses operate from Windermere and Ambleside to Grasmere village, and there is an every 20 minute bus service which stops directly at Dove Cottage.
For bus times and details telephone: 0870 608 2 608.
We hope you enjoy your visit to the award-winning Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum. Please find below some information about your visit that you may find helpful.

Located on the hillside off the Lakeside Road near to Rydal Water (Lake) on the road to Grasmere from Ambleside. Signposted, but easily missed. Open to the public. Further collections of Wordsworth memorabilia, a pleasant garden with inspirational vistas. "Dora's Field" nearby, is famous for its spring carpet of daffodils which prompted Wordsworth's writing of the poem "Daffodils" which he dedicated to his daughter Dora.

Regrettably, there is no longer a Tourist Information Centre in Grasmere - the nearest is at either Ambleside or Coniston.

See Also: Lakes Tourist Information Centres