IT IS THE MOST VISITED NATIONAL PARK IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH

15.8 MILLION ANNUAL VISITORS AND MORE THAN 23 MILLION ANNUAL DAY
VISITS, THE LARGEST OF THE THIRTEEN NATIONAL PARKS IN ENGLAND
AND WALES, AND THE SECOND LARGEST IN THE UK AFTER
THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK.
The Lake District (or Lakeland, as it's commonly known round these parts) is by
far the UK's most popular national park. Every year, some 15 million people
pitch up to explore the region's fells and countryside, and it's not hard to see
why. Ever since the Romantic poets arrived in the 19th century, its postcard
panorama of craggy hilltops, mountain tarns and glittering lakes has been
stirring the imaginations of visitors. Since 2017 it has also been a Unesco World
Heritage Site, in recognition of its uinque hill-farming culture.
There are a wide range of activities and things to do in the Lake District, and
with more than 3,100 kilometres of rights of way, you can walk, cycle and ride
around our countryside to your heart’s content. In the winter you can even
learn winter skills. As well as enjoying your time on land, you can also get on
the water of the lakes and coastline.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850)
Born in 1770, William Wordsworth was one of the major English Romantic
poets of his time, and he was inspired to write many of his most famous works
while living in the Lake District.

His ‘Daffodils’ poem, written in 1804 and beginning “I wandered lonely as a

cloud” is the quintessential Lake District poem. Wordsworth moved to Dove
Cottage in Grasmere in 1799 and then Rydal Mount in 1813. Both houses are still
open to the public and attract visitors from all over the world.

Dove Cottage is situated in the heart of the Lake District and is the place where
Wordsworth wrote some of his greatest poetry. His sister Dorothy kept her
equally famous ´Grasmere Journal´ at Dove cottage, which is still on display in
the museum. William found Dove Cottage by accident as he was out walking with
his brother John and fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He moved in with his
sister, Dorothy just a few weeks later.

Such was his love of the Lake District that he described it as: “A sort of national
property in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive
and a heart to enjoy”.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a leader of the British Romantic movement, was born
on October 21, 1772, in Devonshire, England.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a founding member of the British Romanticism

movement, and his friendship with Cumbrian local, William Wordsworth, would
lead to the creation of some of the finest examples of poetry in the English
literary canon.

Together with Wordsworth and Robert Southey, he would become known as one
of the Lakes Poets. However, unlike Wordsworth, who was enthralled in the
natural beauty of the Lake District, Coleridge had a darker view of the area,
perhaps fueled by his unhappy marriage and opium addiction.
ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843)
Robert Southey was a prolific writer and firm friends with William
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The three became known as the
“Lakes Poets” and they have been attributed with inspiring the start of the
Romanticism movement in arts and literature in nineteenth century Britain.

In 1803, Southey suffered a series of bereavements, including that of his mother

and his first child. As a result, he sought refuge from the memories of the
departed and fled to Cumbria, visiting his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Greta
Hall, Keswick. Shortly after, Coleridge, who had never been happy in his marriage
with Southey’s sister-in-law, Sara Fricker, left, Southey was left to support both
his own wife and children and Coleridge’s wife and children. Southey remained in
Cumbria at Greta Hall until his death in 1843. Southey was a prodigious writer of
both verse and prose. His best known poems include: The Inchape Rock, The
Battle of Blenheim and The Holy Tree. His prose works include the
celebrated History of Brazil (1810-1819) and History of the Peninsula War (1823-
1832).