DOVE Cottage, the world-famous home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth will open after a major restoration on 15 August 2020.
The original plans to open on 7 April with a series of events to celebrate the poets 250th anniversary had to be put on hold when Government advised all tourist attractions to close.
So, only a couple of weeks before the birthday celebrations, a grand public opening and the launch of a rebranding as Wordsworth Grasmere, Wordsworth Trust closed Dove Cottage’s door, leaving only key staff to look after the cottage, and water the garden-orchard – immortalised by the poet as ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’ – during one of the driest springs in years.
For several months Curator Jeff Cowton was one of the very few people to step inside the cottage – even taking tea by the fire in April to mark Museums from Home day. As a resident of the hamlet of Town End, Jeff experienced the peace that William and Dorothy would have known when the hamlet was their home from 1799 to 1808.
Curator and Head of Learning, Jeff Cowton said: “It was a privilege to be ‘locked down’ in Dove Cottage and Town End, to take time to appreciate the natural sounds of house and garden in our otherwise busy world. That is what they offer us all – a place to take time out, to imagine a young family doing day to day things yet creating writing – both poetry and journal – that speaks to us today. Just being here, reading and hearing these words in the place that inspired them, is a remarkable and uplifting experience.”
Now Jeff and the team are delighted that they can share Dove Cottage with visitors once again.
Dove Cottage opens after an authentic restoration, transforming the visitor experience with newly animated spaces around the poet’s much-loved Lake District home. A newly commissioned introductory film is shown prior to visiting the restored cottage’s interiors, enabling visitors to step back in time to get a feeling of daily life as the Wordsworth’s would have known in 1800 and experience a humble home where extraordinary writing and thinking took place.
Work to complete the Reimagining Wordsworth project continues. When complete (a new completion date is yet to be announced), the £6.2m transformation, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will create new and improved opportunities to learn and connect with the poet’s work, life, ideas and philosophies, and strengthen the connection between his work and the Lake District landscape that inspired it. The new learning space which managed to bring poetry to people of all ages and backgrounds through a brief programme of events just prior to ‘lockdown, will be a temporary welcome area for visitors this summer. The new café has received some minor adjustments to provide a takeaway service and a simple eat in menu.
Head of Visitor Experience, Stephanie Byast said: “Visitors were always going to have a different experience here after such a significant redevelopment – it’s just going to be a little more different than we had planned! But we can assure visitors a period of distraction as they immerse themselves back into 1800, but with all 2020s visitor safety and care in place.”
Michael McGregor, Director of the Wordsworth Trust, said: “We are excited to finally be able to welcome visitors to Wordsworth Grasmere, the home of one of our greatest poets. Inspired by Wordsworth’s own wish that his poetry ‘live and do good’, Reimagining Wordsworth will also celebrate the enduring significance and relevance of the poet in fresh and exciting ways. We look forward to welcoming diverse audiences from the UK and when the time is right, from across the world, to Wordsworth Grasmere to experience, in Wordsworth’s words, ‘The one sensation that is here’.”
Limited places available per session. All visits must be pre-booked online: wordsworth.org.uk.
For more information about Reimagining Wordsworth / Wordsworth Grasmere please visit:
- Website https://www.wordsworth.org.uk/
- Facebook @wordsworthtrust
- Instagram @wordsworthtrust
- Twitter @WordsworthTrust
