Literary Works

I love to read but I've never been someone who can recite authors and books and passages from famous literature. But while I travel through England I'm reminded of so many names that are familiar. It's amazing to me how many English authors have influenced our literature. In the Lakes District I enjoyed learning about a few that spent time in the region - on my day off, I even made it to their homes to explore.

First stop: Allan Bank, the home of William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth, called Grasmere “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found” and lived here for 14 years at Allan Bank. Allan Bank is a nondescript communal home that he moved into with his growing family and another poet. It may not be much to look at any more but the views looking out on Grasmere make it very clear why he loved it. It was here where he wrote "Guide to the Lakes" which was published in 1810 and it suggested that the Lakes could become a 'sort of national property' which was a new idea that has since guided the creation of landscape conservation and public access across the world.

Aside from the views, Allan Bank was doing something else I hadn't seen in a preserved home before. The walls, which were not in the best of shape, were commissioned to an artist to create an installation that would commemorate 125 years of the National Trust. The artist, Sarah Jackman, drew three giant heads of the people that lived in the home, all of whom changed the way we view the world today - William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. Only a temporary exhibit, the portraits were drawn directly on the walls and will be removed later this year. I thought it was such a unique way to utilize space and continue to make the home a place for the people and not just a museum.

Next stop: Hill Top, the home of Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter, author and illustrator of one of my favorite characters - Peter Rabbit. And the mentee of Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a founding member of the National Trust, who had a great deal of influence on her.

What I learned about Beatrix Potter was that she was an incredible conservationist and upon her death left an incredible amount of property and her illustrations to the National Trust. She was also responsible for preserving the Herdwick sheep and fell farming, a way of life in the Lakes District. She also did a masterful job of preserving the farm and furniture within it too, again leaving it all to the National Trust for people to continue to enjoy today.

But it wasn't just her home that influenced so many of her characters it was the whole town. So from the moment I reached Hill Top, I found myself flashing back to my childhood. From the mailbox where Peter Rabbit posted his letters to the garden where he was chased and the cottages and shops from some of her other stories. I could see the drawings coming to life before my eyes.