Dove Cottage and The Wordsworth Museum Museums

Dove Cottage was home to the Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and his family for 8 years (1799-1808). Here Wordsworth wrote many of his most famous poems. There are many ideas associated with 'Romantic' poetry, but one of the most important for Wordsworth was to show the link between human experience and the natural world.

Wordsworth loved and drew inspiration from this landscape of the Lake District, his home. Today we hope that the importance of place has been retained: that interacting with Wordsworth's work, in the place it was created, allows the freshness of the original inspiration to live.

Dove Cottage, formerly an inn known as the 'Dove and Olive', is first recorded in a list of pubs of Westmoreland in 1617. It remained a pub until 1793, and the oak-panelled walls and slate floors still recall the drinking rooms of those years.

About 70,000 people visit Dove Cottage, every year. All visitors are offered a guided tour, telling the story of the house and family. Many of the Wordsworths' household items: furniture, family possessions and portraits are displayed. The garden (open, weather permitting), Wordsworth's 'domestic slip of mountain', has been restored to the half wild state that he and Dorothy lovingly created from local plants and materials.

We are open every day, 9.30am - 5.30pm. Last admission is 5pm.

We are closed 24, 25 and 26 December every year and the beginning January - end of January for essential conservation work.