Dove Cottage is the most visited literary site in the Lake District and one of the best-preserved Romantic-era homes in England. William Wordsworth lived here from 1799 to 1808, sharing the small whitewashed cottage first with his sister Dorothy and later with his wife Mary and their growing family. It was here that he wrote some of his finest poems, including "Resolution and Independence" and much of The Prelude.
The cottage itself is low-ceilinged and cramped — it is hard to imagine a family of five living here — which makes the domestic detail all the more vivid. The rooms have been kept largely as they were: a slate-floored kitchen, a small sitting room with Wordsworth's own furniture, the tiny bedrooms. The attached museum houses manuscripts, portraits, and artefacts from the Wordsworth circle, including letters from Coleridge and De Quincey, who took over the cottage when the Wordsworths moved on.
Open year-round. Guided tours run throughout the day. Combined tickets with Rydal Mount (Wordsworth's later home) are available.