I was a little shocked when I mentioned to Zoe that we would be going to Wordsworth’s childhood home in the village of Cockermouth and her reply was ‘Who’s that?’. I immediately thought ‘Oh God, I’ve failed as a parent, my own child hasn’t heard of William Wordsworth’ . Then I considered calling up her English teacher and asking him why she hadn’t heard of Wordsworth but wisely decided against that and instead explained to her that Wordsworth was possibly the greatest of the Romantic poets and was responsible for some of the loveliest poetry ever written. I then proceeded to go on about the daffodils and the world being too much with us and anything else I could remember until I noticed Zoe’s eyes glazing over at which point I abandoned the subject with a vague plan to bring it up again at some point before our visit to Cumbria.
And so I was pleasantly surprised when Travis appeared in the kitchen at High Houses with a book of Wordsworth’s poems and essays and Zoe announced she would be holding poetry readings en route. It was a beautiful day and the countryside complimented the readings perfectly – it was easy to see how Wordsworth had been influenced by the nature around him as it really is stunningly beautiful in this part of England.
Cockermouth is a charming little village, whatever you may think of the name, with a cute little high street lined with shops. Wordsworth’s home is one of the larger buildings on the street and is where he lived with his mother and father and sister and brother when his father was a land agent for the local lord.
It has been beautifully restored and maintained and they even had a costumed servant in the kitchen making mouth-watering delicacies from the 1780s. And by mouth-watering, I mean not.
I was intrigued that she was using the original implements in the kitchen and asked her what she was making: Asparagus Bread, which she described to me as ‘bread with asparagus in it’ and Carrot Fritters which were also described in no great detail as ‘fritters made from carrots’. Clearly, time spent in the home of one of the greatest poets ever to live had sadly not influenced her descriptive abilities. Still I appreciated her attempts and funny bonnet.
Anyway, we had a really good visit, including a repeat performance of the dressing up session from two years ago at Stourhead. I had wanted Travis to run around the house dressed as a footman but it didn’t happen. Maybe next time.
After a wander through the garden and a free cup of tea and scones with jam in the cafe, we spent our usual forever in the gift shop and all emerged laden down with various useless gifts. We hadn’t meant to, but the high street was so appealing that we spent some more time and money at various shops before having a picnic by the river and then piling back into the car for our next destination: Hilltop Farm, home of Beatrix Potter, where we were to meet my cousin Julie and her son Ollie. It was a bit sketchy getting there as the roads here are about 8 inches wide and the hedgerows on either side are about 18ft tall; I find myself doing a lot of hoping that there isn’t a car approaching on the other side of the curve. Probably not the best strategy but everybody else is doing it too…
We made it in one piece and it was great to see my cousin Julie, who may well be the funniest human alive. She is also a nurse and so she hit off with Travis, and we all had a great time together.
The farm is the cutest place ever but for me personally, a giant fan of her books as a child, it was amazing to see some of her original drawings and art, like these original drawings for Peter Rabbit.
I was especially happy to see Beatrix Potter’s original dollhouse which features in my favourite of her books, The Two Bad Mice. I remember being a child and feeling bad for the mice that the food they had found in the dollhouse wasn't real. It was a treat to see the inspiration in real life.
Many of the locations in her books can be seen at the farm and in the surrounding village. There were also a few bus loads of tourists who had, once again, just arrived from somewhere far away like mainland China or possibly Korea, and who had the sole goal of taking the most selfies of anyone on their bus, and then falling asleep on a bench or in a window seat. We retreated to the garden until they all left and amused ourselves with ice cream and another gift shop. It was another idyllic spot and I gained a deeper appreciation for Beatrix Potter by learning that, at the time of her death, she had fifteen farms to her name totalling over 4000 acres of land and buildings that she donated entirely to the National Trust here in the UK. She was a conservationist and contributed greatly to the preservation of farmland in this region. And no, I don't kow if we are related but I like to think we are.
This guy keeps showing up. I think he is following us.
The place was closing down for the day and so we all left to find a pub for dinner and found one just 5 short hair-raising minutes down the ‘road’ in the village of Hawkshead. Julie entertained us all at dinner and then we posed for some group pics before heading home through the golden light of the evening.
The traffic was slightly better and we were back at High Houses well before dark. Even after midnight on a clear night, there is still a glow in the sky here.
Tomorrow we make the trek to The North aka Scotland, to see a fantastic castle and a not-so-fantastic town...
Thanks for reading-
Jane
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