After lunch and a mooch around the paintings at Thornthwaite Gallery, we drove on to Cockermouth. Wordsworth's House was lovely and quiet, a perfect day to explore the house and garden, as well as enjoy the small exhibition.
The exhibition is inspired by Dorothy Wordsworth's quote "green and overflowing with life" and the love she and her brother shared for nature and gardening. The exhibition is a celebration of the gardens the Wordsworths designed and the role these green spaces still play as wildlife havens, in Cockermouth, Dove Cottage, Allan Bank and Rydal Mount.
From childhood, gardens featured in William’s fondest memories and are immortalised in his poetry. At his home in Cockermouth, he and his sister were lucky enough to experience a wild childhood, having a free rein to explore the garden, the terrace and the River Derwent on their doorstep.
The exhibition was lovely, reminding us how important gardens were to the Wordsworth siblings. The Garden at Wordsworth House is just starting to come to life, with apple and pear blossom everywhere as well as tulips in profusion. I loved standing next to the River Derwent imagining the brothers and sister playing and enjoying their natural surroundings.
From Cockermouth we drove back to Keswick, and round Derwentwater to Manesty, a small hamlet on the Lake. The reason for our visit, apart from the breathtaking scenery, was to find the home of Hugh Walpole.
Hugh Walpole was a novelist who who was very popular in the early 20th Century. Many of his novels were set in Cumbria including the fabulous Herries Chronicles. I first read these novels in my teens, inspired by a friend's mother, who loved them so much that she named her daughter, my friend, after one of the main characters: Judith!
Walpole lived at Brackenburn, overlooking Derwentwater, calling the house his "little paradise on Cat Bells". It was here that he was visited by many famous literary figures including J B Priestley, Sinclair Lewis, Arthur Ransome and Francis Brett Young. W H Auden also visited and Walpole found him "very jolly, simple, honest and clear-headed....We got on beautifuuly and he didn't make me feel like a silly, worn-out old man".
Nutkin is a mischievous squirrel who travels to Owl Island with his family to gather nuts. He and his cousins build twig rafts and sail across the lake, carrying presents for Old Brown, the island's owl guardian. Nutkin's impudent behavior and riddles annoy Old Brown, leading to a humorous confrontation and a cautionary tale about manners and respect.
I absolutely love spotting places that were the inspiration for Beatrix Potter's "little books".
An absolutely lovely day exploring some of the many places where writers lived and were inspired to create their memorable novels and poetry.