Wordsworth House

Wordsworth House and Garden is the Georgian townhouse on Main Street in Cockermouth where the poet William Wordsworth was born in 1770 and grew up with his sister Dorothy, their parents and the family servants. Saved from destruction and now cared for by the National Trust, it is presented as it would have looked in the 1770s, and the house is visited by guided tour only, with a lift to the ground floor. The walled riverside garden that gave William lifelong inspiration is planted with 18th-century varieties of vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers, the River Derwent running behind his beloved terrace walk, and there is a free-to-browse second-hand bookshop. Reviewers who make a tour find it an interesting insight into Georgian life and praise the friendly staff, but several arrived to find the house closed. Tips from visitors: check the tour schedule before making a special journey, as tours run on selected days with limited places, and use the town centre car parks, as there is no parking on site.