National Trust - Wordsworth House and Garden — Attraction in Cockermouth

We made a point of heading north from where we were staying (near Bootle) up to Cockermouth to visit Wordsworth's house and it was well worth it! The house is brilliant, furnished with authentic items from the time, although mostly not originally belonging to the family. We learned so much from our visit! The Wordsworth family tale is somewhat tragic at times, but fascinating at the same time. We had the guide all to ourselves, so it was like a private tour. The guide was animated and enthusiastic, bringing the story of William Wordsworth and his family to life. We even tried on some of the period costumes in one of the bedrooms! The garden at the back is filled with flowers, herbs, trees and vegetables, backing onto the river Derwent. You'll find quotes from Wordsworth (and others) dotted around, which is a nice touch. Entrance is via the main street, to one side of the gates. There's a small gift shop and the toilets are just outside the back doors, just before you enter the gardens. Overall, the house really gives an insight into life at the time, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here. As well as the Wordsworth family, there's also information about more recent residents, which is equally fascinating (particularly the recordings of one elderly lady recounting her experiences as a child). Cockermouth itself seems quite a pretty little town from what we saw, with plenty of eating places, shops and galleries. We parked behind Wordsworth's house and crossed the footbridge, as this is the closest and...

Entry is £9 for an adult. National Heritage passes get free entry. There is a queue for entry and the staff are elderly volunteers who are very friendly but take an absolute age to process payments and get people on their way. If five people are in the queue, you can expect a ten minute wait. It’s frustrating.

The real positive about this place is that both the garden and house are beautifully maintained. My problem really, is that it’s a pretty abject tourist attraction. It’s of questionable relevance to Wordsworth’s career as it was simply the house of his childhood. There are few references to it in his work and that becomes clear as you walk around. In effect you’re just walking around a late 18th century home but the curators have struggled to draw any significance to Wordsworth the poet. Instead, it could almost be any upper middle class family if the time. It’s not particularly interesting and the displays are minimal. In fact you have to wait until the very end of the tour to read anything about the man and his career. It’s one of the weirder tourist sites I’ve seen and a huge disappointment to anyone wanting to better acquaint themselves with the history of the Lakes’ most famous son. I’d definitely give this one a pass. You’re not missing much.

There is a souvenir shop and toilet at the beginning/end...

We visited 28th May 25, we was given a very warm welcome by David on the reception, we are NT members and have been for many years. We started in the gardens as it was dry, the gardens are delightful, we met the gardeners, we had a long chat with one of them, she was so helpful in giving us tips on other nearby attractions as well as the garden. We had a wonderful time exploring the garden, we found Fletch the perchcrow he was quite splendid. We went on and found the river, at the end of the garden was a small quiet summer house with poems read which a real delight. We went into the house, we had use of the lift as we are less able, a very impressive house inside, with lots of information about each room, certain objects you can touch. On our way out we were drawn to images on the wall, we expressed our interest to David and he went to the store room to see what was left. We bought four of them framed, while David was wrapping them we went for lunch. When we got back the sun was shining so we had to revisit the garden. We picked up our booty from David and he asked for feedback, my wife being cheeky said yes as long as she could have a photo with David, he had been so kind, and very informative, a whole wonderful experience. We're from Dover and...