Day 13: Thursday 21st April 2022

Day 13: Thursday 21st April 2022

Up early this morning in order to catch the 8.20 bus to Windermere. We have got very used to the route ro Windermere! We bought lunch from Booth’s then caught the 599 open top double decker bus to Grasmere. There was some beautiful views on route and it was good fun (although chilly!) sitting in the open air.

Once we got to Grasmere, we had a wander round the village before finding Wordsworth’s Daffodil Garden and the church where his grave lies. The garden began as the Daffodil Garden from 1998 onwards when the church needed to raise funds for its maintenance, and decided upon creating a tribute to the poet, offering sponsorship for engraved stones on the path and daffodil bulbs to be planted. 

We both bought a book from the nearby bookshop - Mum buying one about Wordsworth and his life while I bought a collection of poetry - it came in very useful later on! 

We headed to Grasmere Lake for a lovely walk around the water, stopping again for a picnic lunch around 12.30. We decided to read aloud a poem each, written by Wordsworth, inspired by the local scenery (probably attracting some strange looks from passers by, but we wanted to appreciate his work whilst in the right area!!)

The walk continued through to Rydal Lake, and wanting to continue to learn about Wordsworth, we visited Dora’s Field - given to his daughter, and where he planted a daffodil memorial for her after she had died. We also visited Rydal Mount, the house that he and his wife lived in for 37 years. We did not go inside the house but did explore the lovely gardens - definitely the perfect place to live, as there were views to Rydal Lake which were stunning!

The view from Wordsworth’s garden!!

We walked back to Ambleside, where I finally bought some Kendal Mint Cake! (Did want to buy it actually in Kendal, but not going there potentially now, so got it in Ambleside instead. I haven’t tried it yet!) Then we caught the bus back home, getting back around 7pm. Very tired having walked about 11 miles but a great day again. The last day in the Lake District tomorrow before moving on to the Scottish borders on Saturday. It has been so beautiful here and very lucky with the weather.