Dove Cottage
Dove Cottage features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Lake District. Give it roughly ~60 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Lake District Lake District guide
About Dove Cottage
The small former inn at Grasmere where Wordsworth lived from 1799 and wrote his greatest poetry, and where his sister Dorothy kept her celebrated journal; now a museum of the Romantics.
Dove Cottage, at Town End on the edge of Grasmere, was the home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy from December 1799 until May 1808. A small former inn, first recorded as the 'Dove and Olive' in 1617, it is where Wordsworth wrote much of his greatest work, including 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud', the 'Ode: Intimations of Immortality' and parts of 'The Prelude'; Dorothy kept her celebrated Grasmere Journal here. The Wordsworths never called it Dove Cottage, a name applied later.
After the Wordsworths left, the essayist Thomas De Quincey lived in the cottage from 1809. The Wordsworth Trust bought it for GBP 650 in 1890 and has kept it open to the public since 1891; today it and the adjacent Wordsworth Museum form the 'Wordsworth Grasmere' attraction, which reopened in 2021 after a major redevelopment.
Did you know? In these tiny rooms Wordsworth wrote much of his finest poetry, including the Daffodils and parts of The Prelude, while his sister Dorothy kept the Grasmere Journal that inspired much of it.
How long is a visit to Dove Cottage?
Set aside roughly ~60 min for Dove Cottage. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Dove Cottage worth your time?
Dove Cottage is among the 13 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Lake District, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Lake District
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Dove Cottage and read more:
Day 1 of the Lake District in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Dove Cottage
Preview the Lake District tour free in the Gingerguide app.