Step back to the 1770s at William Wordsworth’s childhood home

Wordsworth House and Garden, in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, is the birthplace and childhood home of romantic poet William and his sister Dorothy.

It is presented as it would have been when they lived here with their parents, three brothers and servants in the 1770s. Today, this homely Georgian townhouse is peopled by our knowledgeable 21st-century guides and, on selected dates, the maid or manservant is hard at work – and keen to chat.

There is real food on the dining table, a fire burning in the working kitchen and a recipe William and Dorothy might have eaten for you to taste. Ink and quill pens are ready in the clerk’s office, and if you play the piano, you might like to try our replica harpsichord. The children’s bedroom is full of toys and dressing up clothes, and in the Wordsworth Room there are books and games to enjoy. Down in the cellar, the household’s ghosts are waiting to tell their stories.

The garden is packed with 18th-century vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers, just as it would have been when William played – and learned his love of nature – here.

OPENING TIMES:

Open Saturday to Thursday, 11am to 5pm (last entry to house and garden 4pm) until 29 October. It will also be open on three Fridays in 2017: 14 April (Good Friday), 2 June and 27 October. Timed tickets may operate on busy days. The café is open from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

DIRECTIONS: Off A66, on Cockermouth Main Street. Parking: town centre car parks. Long-stay car park signposted as coach park (not National Trust), 300 yards, Wakefield Road. Walk back over footbridge to house.

Address: Main Street, Cockermouth, CA13 9RX Tel: 01900 820884
Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wordsworth-house

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What else is nearby?

Mirehouse & Gardens, Bassenthwaite

The Rum Story, Whitehaven

Cumbria Museum of Military Life, Carlisle