Saturday 7 April 2012

Grasmere and Gingerbread


Grasmere is a village in the heart of the Lake District, lying to the north of the lake which shares its name.

Its most famous literary connection is the poet William Wordsworth, who lived here from 1799 to 1808, first with his sister Dorothy and then with his wife Mary. His home, Dove Cottage, used to be an inn called the Dove and Olive, and many of its features date from this time – white-washed walls, flagstone floors and dark wood panelling. Today it is open to the public and attracts about 70,000 visitors each year, who can see some of the original furniture, and family possessions and portraits.


Wordsworth and his wife Mary are both buried in Grasmere churchyard.

In August the Grasmere Sports are held in the village, an event which dates back to 1852. Events include local traditional sports such as Cumberland wrestling, fell running and hound trailing. Another popular event is the Rushbearing Ceremony, a reminder of the days before the church floor was flagged, and new rushes had to laid on the floor. I'll tell you more about these events in a later post.

Overlooking the village, on the south side of Dunmail Raise (the high pass linking the southern Lakes with the northern area) is a small mountain known officially as Helm Crag, but often referred to as ‘The Lion and the Lamb’ because of two outcrops of rock on its summit. Can you see them?


Grasmere is also famous for its gingerbread, which was originally made by Sarah Nelson, who in the early 19th century became a proficient cook in the homes of the local gentry. About 1850 she and her husband bought a small cottage in one corner of the churchyard, and Sarah made gingerbread to sell to both local people and to visitors.

The same cottage is now a shop which still sells the genuine Grasmere Gingerbread (and it’s delicious!). The original recipe is a secret and is now kept in a bank vault.

22 comments:

  1. Grasmere looks like a charming place!

    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  2. Wow another town-- you sure are blessed to have so many wonderful places to visit :)

    Cheers, Jenn
    http://www.wine-n-chat.com

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  3. Love Wordsworth - thanks for he reminder of him and his writing on this fine mornign!

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  4. I am so loving your posts! Great job.

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  5. Another lovely location, thank you for the tour!

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  6. Ah, I've stayed in Grasmere and really like it there. I still have the square silver tin with the gingerbread shop on it!

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  7. Never been to Grasmere, it looks my sort of place though...

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  8. I think I need to take a trip. Everything is so lovely. :)

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  9. Very impressed with this. But I confess I can't imagine how you're going to deal with X and Z!

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  10. Thank you, all.

    Damyanti - it is a charming place, although I image this weekend it is completely packed with visitors/tourists

    Jenn- all the places I've written about so far (and most of others I'm planning for my A-Z)are within about 10 miles of each other.

    Thanks, Jillian and Claudia

    Rosemary - I used to have one of those tins too, but don't remember what happened to it!

    Maria and Daphne - there are so many lovely places in this area.

    Jenny - I'm not sure yet either!

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  11. Reading your blogs is like turning on the Travel Channel, Paula! Great job on your A - Z posts!

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  12. You are making me feel as though I have actually been each of these places!
    Loving it, loving it! ♥

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  13. The second image from the bottom makes me want to be there for a month or so, just to write... absolutely charming!

    Paula, your ventures are so much fun to go on.

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  14. Thanks, beachlover, Jo and November - so glad you are liking my Lake District posts - and enjoying the places I love so much in that area. There are lots more to come!

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  15. More beautiful places!

    Catch My Words
    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2012/04/atoz-good-golly.html

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  16. I love all the locations you've shown so far. I'd love to try that gingerbread. :)

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  17. What a gorgeous place. I have a new place I'd like to visit.

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  18. Sounds lovely and I'm a fan of gingerbread :)

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  19. All the places you describe seem like they are fresh out of a fairy tale. Thank you for taking me on a visit through your blog.

    Kathy
    http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com/

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  20. Lovely post! I so enjoyed this :-) I will be back again :-)

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  21. I thought I saw a lamb for a moment - or was it a lion - but not both. (I usually sucked at identifying cloud creatures, too.)

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  22. Thank you all - and yes, the gingerbread is delicious.

    Beverley, the lion is the lump of rock at the top of the hill, it's lyving down, facing to the right, And the lamb is the tiny rock next to the lion.

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