Wordsworth House National Trust

Wordsworth House in Cockermouth stands as one of the Lake District's most significant yet understated literary treasures—a grand Georgian townhouse on Main Street where William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, and spent the first eight years of his life. Built around 1745, this imposing residence served as the rent-free "tied" house for William's father John Wordsworth, who worked as agent for the Cumberland estates of Sir James Lowther, one of England's richest men. Unlike the more famous Dove Cottage in Grasmere, which attracts most Wordsworth pilgrims, this National Trust property offers visitors the chance to experience the very foundations of the poet's genius—the elegant rooms where he first discovered his father's "golden store" of books, and most memorably, the walled heritage garden where both William and his sister Dorothy first developed their profound love of nature. The house witnessed both great happiness and profound sorrow: it was here that William experienced the progressive parenting of John and Ann Wordsworth, who followed 18th-century theories allowing children to "behave naturally and play in the open air," but it also saw the devastating losses of his mother in 1778 when he was just eight, and his father in 1783, after which "the house was emptied, the keys handed back and the Wordsworth children left for ever". Today, meticulously restored to its 1770s appearance, the house provides an intimate glimpse into the domestic world that shaped one of England's greatest poets, complete with period furnishings, a charming tearoom, and that remarkable garden where visitors can literally walk in the footsteps of the child who would revolutionize English poetry.