Grasmere & Dove Cottage
Grasmere / Dove Cottage
A lakeside village that William Wordsworth called “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found.” He wrote many of his famous works at Dove Cottage, and the village’s gingerbread shop has been trading for over a century.
Grasmere is the most literary village in the Lake District. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth lived with his sister Dorothy at Dove Cottage, south of the village, from 1799 to 1808, and completed many of his masterpieces there. Today, Dove Cottage and the adjoining museum are run by the Wordsworth Trust. Guides show visitors the cottage and garden, preserved as they originally were. Admission costs about a dozen pounds, and winter opening hours are shorter. The Wordsworth family is buried in the churchyard of St Oswald’s Church in the village. Beside the church is the famous Sarah Nelson’s Gingerbread shop. Since 1854, it has sold a gingerbread halfway between a biscuit and a cake, and there is often a queue at the door. It is a must-buy souvenir. You can walk a loop around Grasmere and Rydal Water in about 2 to 3 hours, passing Rydal Mount, another former Wordsworth home.
Opening hours
Village open all day; dovecote approx. 10:00–17:00 (shorter or weekends only in winter, check official website)
Nearby sights
- Rydal Mount
- Ambleside
- Tarn Hows
- Great Langdale
- Helvellyn
- Wray Castle
- Hawkshead
- Coniston Water & Steam Yacht Gondola