National Geographic Traveller UK April 2020

Grasmere

STAY AT HOME

There’s cause for celebration in the Cumbrian village

this year, as the literary landscape takes centre stage

WHERE TO STAY

Langdale Hotel’s

peaceful setting

makes it well worth

the 10-minute drive

from Grasmere,

especially if you

check into one of the

Waterside rooms,

which come with

terraces jutting out

over a babbling brook.

There’s also a pool

and sauna, plus a huge

spa at Brimstone,

Langdale’s sister hotel,

on the same estate.

From £140, B&B.

langdale.co.uk

WHY GO
This year marks 250 years since the birth of
Romantic poet William Wordsworth, who
spent most of his life in the Lake District.
His home in the pretty village of Grasmere,
hugging the lake of the same name, reopens
to visitors this month following a £6.2m
renovation. It’s not all cultural, though,
since the Lake District has plenty of natural
attractions too. visitcumbria.com

WHAT TO DO
Dove Cottage, the former home of the
Wordsworths, reopens on 7 April, with
restored interiors, a recreation of the poet’s
orchard garden, new walking trails and a
visitor centre. In the summer, the onsite
museum also relaunches, with expanded
exhibits of Wordsworth’s manuscripts,
books and ine art, new galleries exploring
his life and a rootop viewing deck where
you can soak up the scenery. The landscape
of the Lakes has inspired countless writers;
experience the best of it on foot, whether it’s
a hike up Helvellyn or Scafell Pike or a stroll
along the shore of Grasmere, Windermere or
Thirlmere. wordsworth.org.uk

WE LIKE

Sam Read Bookseller has been a ixture on

Grasmere’s village green since 1887, and word

has it novelist EM Forster would send letters

home via the bookshop when he holidayed

nearby. The store stocks plenty of volumes

by and about the Romantics, as well as maps

and guidebooks. samreadbooks.co.uk

DON’T MISS

Local brand Sarah Nelson’s Grasmere

Gingerbread has made this village the

spiritual home of sweet-and-spicy biscuits.

And the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is the

best place for buying some to take home.

grasmeregingerbread.co.uk

WHERE TO EAT

Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms The

Forest Side sits on the edge of Grasmere in a

converted Victorian mansion. The seasonally

changing tasting menus feature ingredients

that have been foraged, grown in the

kitchen garden and ished or farmed locally.

Expect the likes of homegrown carrots with

preserved green walnut and cheese curds.

theforestside.com NICOLA TRUP

April 2020 37

SMART TRAVELLER