A Visit to Wordsworth House, Cumberland, England

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The name of William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850) is probably known to most of you. He was an English poet of the Romantic era, and was widely recognised for his literary writings. One of his well-known poems was ‘Daffodils’ which also went under the name of ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’. While we were in the Lakes district in Cumberland, England, we visited the small town of Cockermouth and toured his childhood home. The house was very well set up with guides dressed in the clothes of the period. We were invited to play the piano but declined. When we caught up with Vince's brother a week later we learnt that they had also visited Wordsworth House, and Michael had treated the attendants to a tune. Wordsworth was the second of five children and always remained close to his sister, Dorothy, who was born a year after William. Cockermouth also lays claim to being (almost) the home town of Christian Fletcher (1764- 1793) although the family home was at nearby Eaglesfield. From the age of nine, Christian spent seven years at the Cockermouth Free School. He is most famous for leading the mutiny and seizing command of the William Bligh’s ship, the Bounty, during a voyage to Tahiti.