Grasmere: "The loveliest spot that man hath ever found." (William Wordsworth--who else?)
The course and trip culminate in Grasmere, a small village made famous as the home of William Wordsworth. Grasmere is located in the Lake District in the northwest of England. Known for the many natural lakes that dot the landscape (formed from rain collecting in valleys between the mountains), the Lake District is a protected national park and is the most-visited park in the United Kingdom. It is most famous for its connections to Wordsworth and other Lake Poets, and so it's a kind of Wordsworth-land (his various homes have been turned into museums, and you can visit the graveyard where he and his family are buried). Grasmere is also home to the Jerwood Centre, a research library that houses nearly all of the Wordsworths' original manuscripts, as well as many other literary, historical, and artistic documents related to the area. We will attend a research session with the Centre's curator on literary tourism in the Lake District, complete with a tour of Dove Cottage, the Wordsworth Museum, and a private, after-hours poetry reading in the Wordsworths' modest home. In addition to learning about Grasmere, we will visit several other villages in the Lake District, including Hawkshead, Buttermere, Ullswater, Rydal, Ambleside, and Keswick. And of course, no visit to the Lakes would be complete without a few walks. After our research session at the Jerwood, we will take the Coffin Path from Grasmere to Rydal Mount (another of Wordsworth's homes), then loop around Grasmere Lake on our way back to Dove Cottage. On another day, we will ascend Helm Crag, then pop over to Easedale Tarn, arguably the most picturesque tarn in the Lakes. Below are links to some places we will visit.