cumbria's gardens in march...
Britain's best loved landscape- the Lake District, inspired one of the world's most famous poems- Wordsworth's "Daffodils". Two centuries have passed since he began: 'I wandered lonely as a Cloud That floats on high o'er vales and Hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden Daffodils; Beside the Lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.........' Those lines were penned about a wild group on the banks of Ullswater, but the same magic is re-made every spring in all our gardens. To see these bright beauties at their authentic best though, visit the gardens the poet himself made...
Dove Cottage was his early home at Grasmere and this garden was his "little nook of mountain ground". He thrilled to the romantic wildness of the surrounding lakeland landscape, and his garden reflects it. Moss and ferns abound, with rocky banks leading to natural woodland and views of lake and fell beyond. There is a short terrace where he paced up and down, drumming out the rhythm of his words, and a rustic shelter in which to think. You will find daffodils here in this delightful cottage garden, but look too for the little springtime Celandine- its bright yellow starry flowers peeping out between the grass blades. That was in truth his favourite flower....
‘Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies,
Let them live upon their praises;...
There's a flower that shall be mine,
'Tis the little Celandine...'
As Wordsworth's poetry found favour and publishing success, he was able to move on and up in the world, to a larger house and garden at Rydal Mount. This is ‘just around the corner' from Grasmere, an hours glorious walk along the old ‘coffin route'. Its elevated position giving far finer views down towards Windermere and beyond.
This garden's greater size means more scope for grand lawns, trees and shrubs, but all is blended in the most natural way into the wider landscape. Find here too, terraces for composing and a mossy shelter for the poet's musings. There is also room aplenty for rustic trails winding through woodland, and trickling water twisting down through stones to feed the lake below. But, best of all, in ‘Dora's Field', is the unforgettable sight of massed daffodils, planted by the great man himself...
‘...Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance...'
If your interests lean toward following literary connections, then the last but not least in this trio of Wordsworth's gardens is at Cockermouth. There you will find his childhood home brought to life, and the garden authentically laid out and worked, as he would have known it. Inspiration for a lifetime of poetic gardening....
