Lake District, William Wordsworth, & Beatrix Potter

A two hour ride in our coach bus brought us to the beautiful and scenic lake district from which William Wordsworth was from and drew his inspiration for his famous works.






If you are familiar with his works I would suggest a trip to this countryside to help give a better understanding of how and why thus particular author could describe things with such description and zeal. For the most part, William Wordsworth was a poet that wrote such famous love poems that even today they are quoted. We were driven to and dropped at the bottom of a step hill that eventually leads to his home within the lake district. I enjoyed to brisk and inclined walk that eventually brought me to the front door of his home. It is actually quite a spacious home that does not look as though it would be that large from the outside. I think the English have mastered the art of creating space in such confined areas.


















The main feature of the home however was the beautiful and very large garden to spanned to entire property to to bottom of one of the lakes in the district. I was impressed with the variety and amount of plant life within the garden that at some point I remember think this must be similar to what the Garden of Eden must have been like.





































I was inspired to sit for a bit and sketch a scene that to me was beautiful. A good majority of the group was able to draw on the energy of the place and transmute it into a poem, drawing or even a journal entry to help them to remember their f longs and experiences.
I think I was a bit loath move onto our next destination, but soon got over that after reading more about our destination. Are you familiar with the story of Peter Rabbit? Well, we were able to tour the home of the woman who wrote the tales of Peter and his friends. Beatrix Potter was an interesting woman. She was independently wealthy by her own works and became a woman of property as well because of her success from her writing. What was so interesting about her? She was one of the first children's literature authors to be able to be printed with her own name on the book instead of a pseudonym on the cover of her work. Her home that she purchased and was very proud of was a comfortable and accommodating home for her needs.






As well as writing, she was also a painter and painted all of the illustrations that accompanied her written words. When she married she did not want to bring her new husbands rungs into her home so instead she kept her things on her original home and purchased an additional home for she and hr husband to share. She used her original home as her working space for her painting and writing and had a husband that was supportive of her artistic needs and demands. I thought this was interesting since that was a highly modern way of thinking for the husband to be supportive of his wife's career. I think even now it would be something that would try a marriage.
Finally, we are off to eat a dinner at a local pub. I haven't been able to bring myself to order or try fish and chips yet, but I'm sure I'll get around to it before I leave England. For now, good night.