Romantic Rydal

Rydal is a small village, a cluster of houses, church and hotel, mid-way between Ambleside and Grasmere.

Despite its apparent insignificance, it has important links to English Romance Literature. The Romantics favoured natural, emotional and personal themes in contrast to the Enlightenment Era which promoted science, reason and intellectual philosophy.

William Wordsworth, one of the main Romantic poets, lived at Rydal Mount from 1813 to 1850. He designed the garden there and he often said that the garden was as much his ‘office’ as the spacious ‘writing room’ in the house. On the high side of the garden, away from the main house, but overlooking both Windermere and Grasmere, he built a small hut equipped with just a small bench. He spent most of his writing time here. The house has remained in the possession of the Wordsworth family until the present day, and has been open to the public since 1970.

Dr. Thomas Arnold, the famous innovative headmaster of Rugby School, had a summer house at Fox Howe, and his son, the poet Matthew Arnold, was a frequent visitor and also a friend of Wordsworth.

Nab Cottage, on the shores of Rydal Water, once belonged to the poets Thomas de Quincey and Hartley Coleridge, again both friends of Wordsworth. It is now a guest house.

Rydal Hall is an imposing building, dating back to the late 16th century, with extensive renovations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its gardens were designed by Thomas Mawson in 1911 and are a perfect example of Edwardian style, with Italianate terracing, herbaceous border and lawns, together with informal woodland gardens and a summerhouse overlooking the Rydal Falls. The Hall now belongs to Carlisle Diocese and is used as a Christian retreat.

St Mary’s Church at Rydal was built by the Fleming family who owned Rydal Hall. Wordsworth and his family, and also the Arnold family, all worshipped here and their pews are now marked by plaques. In 1847, after his daughter Dora died, Wordsworth bought the field between the church and his home at Rydal Mount and dedicated it to her. He and his wife planted hundreds of daffodil bulbs here, and ‘Dora’s Field’, as it is still known, looks beautiful at this time of year.

Rydal Water, a small lake near the village, only about a kilometre long, is owned partly by the National Trust and partly by Rydal Hall. On its southern side are Rydal Caves, part of a disused slate mine. Inside one of the caves is a small lake, complete with goldfish which were placed here years ago and whose descendants still survive.