Wordsworth's Birthplace and walking round Ennerdale Water

On a drizzly morning, what better diversion than a trip to Cockermouth to wander round Wordsworth's birthplace? It's beautifully presented in the way the National Trust does so well. The interior of the house has been carefully reconstructed to include furniture, food and household items of Wordsworth's day. Last month when we visited, there was a commemoration of 100 years since WW1 exhibition revealing the extraordinary role played by nature, there's a dramatic reconstruction of ;life in the 1770s in the cellar, and looking at the website, I see they have talks by Andrew Motion on Thursdays.
When you visit the house, you imagine William Wordworth must have come from a wealthy family, but in fact the house belonged to Sir John Lowther, one of the richest men in the country, Wordsworth's father, John Wordsworth, a lawyer, worked as a land agent for  Sir John, and so lived in the house with his wife and 5 children rent free. Sadly their happy, carefree childhood came to an end when William was 7, his mother caught a chill and died after a trip to London, five years later followed by the death of his father after getting lost on a moor and spending the night outside. The children were sent to live with relatives and had to leave the house.

The kitchen was beautifully presented with preserves on shelving

 food being prepared in the kitchen

 and a meal in the dining room, the game pie looked particularly appetising

Outside there's a beautifully presented garden

 from the path along the back of the garden, you can see the river Derwent

 and this is a view from the path

 a view of the lawn and box balls

 After lunch, the rain stopped, and although it wasn't sunny, it was a lovely afternoon for walking round Ennerdale Water. The walk was easy in most places, although not all, it was a very satisfying circular walk, here's a photo taken near the water

and  here we're looking towards the top of the lake

 and in April, there was still snow on the tops.

 There were lots of streams to cross, a testing time for walking boots, mine are past their best, and leaked

 here's another stream we crossed

Then a few mean and moody looking photos of the lake.

at the top of the lake, there was a bit of extra walking to cross the river feeding into the lake

here's the river

and then this is the level of the water

This is a poster explaining the fact that Newcastle University are doing research into river levels in the Ehen, and looking at the amount of water stored in Ennerdale Water.

A couple of views looking across the water

and a heron flying across the water.