Rydal Mount

The basics

Choose between several different ticket types. Some tickets provide access to the garden only, or to the garden and house; and guided tour options are also available. Among the items found inside the house are first editions of Wordsworth’s work, the poet’s pen, and a portrait of Wordsworth by Henry Inman.

Many Wordsworth-themed tours of the Lake District make stops here and at Dove Cottage, where Wordsworth lived from 1799 to 1808, as well as at Wordsworth’s grave in the village of Grasmere. Poetry-themed tours combine a visit to Rydal Mount with Lake District sights related to other Romantic poets, such as the grave of Romantic poet Robert Southey in Keswick, and Greta Hall, the one-time home of Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Things to know before you go

• Rydal Mount is a must for poetry fans.
• A tearoom at Rydal Mount serves food and refreshments.
• The house is where Wordsworth revised one of his most famous works “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud”; if you’re not familiar with the poem, be sure to read it before you go.

How to get there

Rydal Mount is situated about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from Ambleside. Look for signs along the A591 pointing toward the property. Bus services 555 and the seasonal 599 service (April–October) stop nearby.

When to get there

Rydal Mount typically closes for the month of January. Summer is the busiest season, but even then, it is usually relatively uncrowded. The best time to visit is in spring when the daffodils, bluebells, and rhododendrons come into bloom.

Dove Cottage

Though Wordsworth lived in Rydal Mount for longer, Dove Cottage is perhaps more closely associated with the great poet, because of how prolific he was during his nine-year stay there. Like Rydal Mount, Dove Cottage is crammed with Wordsworth memorabilia including his passport and glasses. It is next door to the Wordsworth Museum and Art Gallery, which displays original manuscripts and exhibits relating to Wordsworth and other Romantic poets.