UK's Lake District pure poetry

By BRIAN JOHNSTON

Okay. So you think poets are silly romantics with nothing better to do than write about nightingales and waterfalls. You have no desire to wander lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills. As for dancing with daffodils, that wouldn't be the highlight of your holiday in England.

All right, then, a word of comfort: you certainly don't have to be a poet to visit the Lake District. And a word of warning: you might become one by the time you leave.

Wordsworth honed his talents in the Lake District, his poetry maintaining a curious balance between the region's rugged landscapes and its comforting Englishness. The Englishness lies in the hill farms and patchwork fields, the slate cottages and (yes) the dancing daffodils.

Add magnificent peaks, plunging valleys and cloud-reflecting lakes, and you begin to see why the young William became such a scribbler.

The beauty and variety of the Lake District's alpine landscape has been famous ever since, and is part of the largest national park in Britain. Barrowdale and Grasmere are among the country's most breathtaking valleys, Wastwater the wildest, and even popular Windermere is spectacular. In summer you may see more tourists than wandering poets, but the crowds seldom distract from the grandeur of the scenery.

Windermere and Bowness form a straggling town that is usually a first stop for visitors to the Lake District, and a major tourist centre in the summer. This is more because of the train station and proximity to Lake Windermere, since the town itself isn't especially attractive.

Only two places are of real note: the 15th-century parish church with an Anglo-Saxon font and original stained glass, and the New Hall Inn. Sometimes called the Hole in the Wall, the inn dates from the 19th century and is a great place to sample Cumbrian sausage, meat pies and pub lunches.

Lake Windermere, lying in a rocky gorge and surrounded by wooded hills, is one of the region's most famous lakes. A spot of tranquil fishing here may net you a red lake trout, highly prized by gourmets.

Unfortunately in summer the lake is buzzing with noisy boats and water-skiers; far better to follow the walking signs to Forrest Head. A stiff climb will take you to the summit of a hill with splendid views down to the lake, as well as an extensive panorama of surrounding mountains apparelled in celestial light. The soft eye-music of slow-waving trees won't go unnoticed either.

Oh, sorry. No poetry - I forgot for a moment. If poetry should overtake you, continue to Ambleside at the northern end of Lake Windermere. There are fine views from the middle of the lake; rent a rowboat at Waterhead Pier and with some lusty rowing (in the immortal words of you-know-who), send your boat heaving through the silent water like a swan.

Another way to pass the day is walking the circular trail to Grasmere and back. This beautiful four-hour walk, detailed in a brochure available at the Ambleside tourist office, is worth the effort.

Ambleside is also a good base from which to explore. It's about 13km to Hawkshead, a village of old shops and narrow, cobbled streets mercifully closed to traffic.

Hawkshead was the boyhood home of Wordsworth, and in the grammar school, which he attended from 1779 to 1787, you can see his name carved on a desk.

Past Hawkshead is Tarn Hows, a small artificial lake enclosed in mountains, and now a National Trust property; a delightful track leads through pine forest and ferns. Also near Hawkshead is Hilltop, the former home of Beatrix Potter, which contains her furniture and china and some original drawings from her children's books.

Once back in Ambleside, take the road north around the lake through birch and oak woods. You'll soon arrive at Rydal Mount, Wordsworth's house from 1813 until his death in 1850, and still occupied by his descendants. You can visit his study, which displays books, letters and portraits.

Much more entertaining, however, is Dove Cottage just outside Grasmere. Wordsworth lived here from 1799 to 1808, before his greatest successes, sharing the small house with his sister Dorothy, the poets Coleridge and De Quincey, and dozens of children and admirers.

A guided tour won't be the literary bore you might imagine, but is full of amusing anecdotes. In the entrance hall you can inspect the certificate naming Wordsworth as Poet Laureate, a post he took on condition he wouldn't have to write about royal events.

The cuckoo clock on the stairs doesn't work because Wordsworth liked to fiddle with the hands and get the cuckoo to come out over and over again.

The poet also had a back door installed so he could escape from the house without leaving through the front parlour, which he complained was always full of "women and children who distracted [him] with questions of a domestic nature".

A museum next door contains manuscripts associated with Wordsworth and the other Lake Poets. Poems can be heard over headphones while you read the originals. As you might expect, there's no escaping poetry in Grasmere. Wordsworth pops up in almost every shop, and if cross-stitched daffodils and tea towels printed with verses of The Prelude are what you've always desired, this is the place to buy them. The less literary can snap up Peter Rabbit mugs and Jeremy Fisher notepads.

Other specialties include gingerbread and toffee. More importantly, however, Grasmere lies in the heart of walking country. For the ambitious climber there's Rydal and Langdale Fells, but for the more sedate even the strolls around Rydal Water and Grasmere provide a scenery of majesty, beauty and repose, a blended holiness of earth and sky ... Oh dear, there I go again.

If you suddenly start thinking in blank verse, it's time to move on to Keswick, a former mining centre and now tourist hub for the northern Lake District.

The town received a market charter in the 13th century and the Saturday market is still around today. The town has the best shopping of the region, with pottery, New Age and Celtic jewellery, baskets, books and outdoor clothing. Another local product is the pencil. Don't laugh; the world's first pencil was produced here, and the Cumberland Pencil Museum takes an interesting look at the history of this object.

Once again, however, it's the setting that's the chief attraction: Keswick lies on Derwentwater, often cited as one of England's finest lakes. An easy walk to Friar's Crag will show you why: from this vantage point you can see the lake and its tiny wooded islands, as well as the impressive crags that surround it.

Other walks include a three-hour hike up Dale Head, and the trail to Buttermere via Portinscale village and Derwent Falls. Also within easy reach of Keswick are the spectacular waterfalls at Lodore.

The beautiful Borrowdale Fells have excellent walking trails leading past boisterous brooks and merry meadows. Oh, wonderful visions of the hills and souls of lonely places!

You see? Don't say you weren't warned about becoming a poet: the Lake District does that to you. And now excuse me. I find my heart with pleasure fills, and I must go and dance with daffodils.

Visit Britain

The Lake District National Park Authority