It’s been a year since one of the Lake District’s most iconic tourist attractions closed to the public, and six months since it was sold. Eileen Jones looks at the past life of Rydal Mount, the most loved home of the poet William Wordsworth, and considers the ambitious plans for its future.
Visitors to Rydal Mount came from round the world
For more than 50 years visitors from all over the world made a pilgrimage to Rydal Mount, the house on a hill two miles north of Ambleside. They came because they loved the poetry of the giant of the Romantic movement, Willam Wordsworth, who lived here for most of his life. Or they came on a guided bus tour with fellow American or Japanese visitors, on a journey which might have started in Windermere and might end north of Keswick. Or they came because it was raining and they had nothing else to do on a wet afternoon in the Lakes.
One visitor from China brought with him a six-foot long scroll bearing the verses of Wordsworth’s most famous poem, Daffodils (I wandered lonely as a cloud) in exquisite Chinese calligraphy. The famous turned up; the late Terry Wogan came for lunch and had his photo taken sitting in William’s favourite “cutlass” chair (the one with gaps at either side, a design that accommodated men wearing a sidearm, allowing them to sit down fully dressed without their sheathed sword hitting the backrest or frame, and allowed a seated person to draw their weapon comfortably with either hand at a moment’s notice.)
Film stars Paul and Mark McGann, and Brian Cox, were regular visitors. And back in the 1970s, the contestants in the Miss UK beauty contest paraded on the lawn in front of the house, while the dance troupe Pan’s People performed a routine for the cameras.
Now the house is closed, and even the five-acres of garden are locked to the public. The tourist sign is still there at the bottom of the hill, where the road to Rydal Mount meets the A591 (conveniently at a bus stop). And the hikers descending from the gruelling nine-mile Fairfield Horseshoe still look longingly beyond the gate where a tea room once served refreshments – and poetry books, and postcards – to hungry walkers.
A brief history of Rydal Mount
William Wordsworth lived in the house from 1813 until his death in 1850 and said that of all his homes – including Dove Cottage, Allan Bank and the Parsonage in Grasmere – this is the one he loved the most. It’s easy to see why. The house is light and spacious with views to both Windermere and Rydal Water, and if it was rather damp when William moved there with his wife Mary and sister Dorothy, the gardens more than compensated. Wordsworth had quite a talent for landscape design and planting, and in recent years the grounds have been restored according to plans he drew up.
But the Wordsworths were only ever tenants at Rydal, and it was only in 1969 that his great great grand-daughter, Mary Henderson, bought the house and brought it into the ownership of the Wordsworth family. It was Mary who first opened the house as a visitor attraction. When she died, ownership passed to her grandsons Christopher Andrew and Simon Bennie, and a succession of curators maintained the house for them. Most notable of these were Peter and Marian Elkington who lived and worked in the house for 25 years until they retired back to their native South Africa. It was under their stewardship that the garden team, led most recently by Helen Green, worked on their epic task of restoration.
As a private family home, ticket sales to visitors and teas sold in the cafe were the only source of income; nearby Dove Cottage in Grasmere is owned by a charity, the Wordsworth Trust, and is therefore able to draw on a range of funding options. When the Covid pandemic forced the closure of heritage attractions, the house was mothballed. The curator at the time, Emily Thornton, lived alone in the house for much of that period, and has a remarkable story to tell in Rydal Mount: The Story of Wordsworth’s Home.
The difficulty of keeping Rydal Mount open to visitors
Visitor numbers, particularly from overseas, dropped dramatically after Covid, and it was in 2025 that Christopher and Simon came to the painful decision that they could no longer afford to keep the house, and put it up for sale. “It was a very difficult decision,” Christopher said at the time. “My brother and I both live in London and it’s getting harder and harder to run Rydal Mount remotely.” He and his brother hoped prospective buyers would want to keep the property open to the public, so visitors could enjoy it the way that Wordsworth lived in it.
A campaign was launched to “save Rydal Mount”, not raising any funds to buy it but certainly raising awareness, particularly among the many Wordsworth fans in the arts community. “It must not be sold to be a private house,” actor Tom Conti told a BBC reporter. “It’s Grade 2 listed. They’d need planning permission to hoover the carpet.”
Rescuers come to the fore for Rydal House
Behind the scenes, there was always the hope that the Wordsworth Trust might be able to step in, and earlier this year, 2026, they announced its purchase, made possible by a £2.5million grant from the Julia Rausing Trust, and further support from the Charlotte Aitken Trust. The Director of the Wordsworth Trust, Michael McGregor, said: “We’re now working with our funders and potential partners to explore sustainable models for Rydal Mount’s future operation. The Wordsworth Trust has a long history of protecting and sharing the Wordsworths’ heritage in the Lake District: Rydal Mount presents us with an incredible opportunity to further inspire and benefit the public for generations to come. Much like Dove Cottage, Rydal Mount is a place that nurtured the Wordsworths’ imaginations, creativity, and enduring connection with the natural world.” There would be a period of closure while surveys, conservation assessments and planning for future operations were under way. The Trust commissioned a feasibility study (with a completion deadline of January 2027) to determine a long-term, financially sustainable operating model.
Farewell but looking forwards
It’s been a bitter sweet time for the Wordsworth family. The weekend before the sale went through, they held a small informal party for members of staff and, having worked there for several years helping promote the house and organise events there, I was invited. Arriving first, I managed to choose the best bedroom in the house – that used by William and Mary Wordsworth. The following morning the removal vans arrived. Christopher said: “It’s been difficult trying to keep the place going, but it’s been a very emotional time for us. It’s full of our family memories.” A few months later, his mother, Susan Andrew died; she had spent a great deal of time there over the years.
But Rydal Mount is now in the safest of hands, and it will be exciting to see how the house will be re-opened, and in what capacity. The Lake District National Park authority was clearly delighted with the outcome: “This spectacular house has a significant connection to the literary tradition of the Lake District and the world-class cultural heritage of the National Park. By ensuring its future as a heritage site, Rydal Mount can remain as a place of inspiration and creativity to all.”
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