Wait to welcome public to Wordsworth's home goes on

No date has been set for the reopening of poet William Wordsworth's final home to the public after it was bought by the trust set up in his name.

The Romantic writer lived in Rydal Mount, in Ambleside, Cumbria, from 1813 until his death in 1850 and the house was put on the market by his descendants last year.

In March the Wordsworth Trust announced it had bought the property alongside The Julia Rausing Trust and the Charlotte Aitken Trust and said it would shut for the "immediate future".

Wordsworth Trust director Michael McGregor said the organisation was currently working out a new business model for the site but hoped to open it to the public in due course.

He said one of the reasons the previous owners had sold the site was because they could not sustain it as a visitor attraction following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Grade I listed house, which hosted weddings and events, shut to the public after the 2025 season.

McGregor said his team were thinking about "different ways" to present Wordsworth's legacy to the public in a "sustainable" way.

This could include holding creativity retreats at the house, he said, as well as ensuring the site can be made accessible to people in Cumbria who do not have easy access to the Lake District.

"Public access and public benefit is very much at the heart of everything that happens here," he said.

"We will have a much better idea in the spring as to where we're going."

In the meantime the team were also working on repairs and renovations, said McGregor.

The poet never owned Rydal Mount but designed the gardens.

It was the third Lake District house Wordsworth lived in and where he resided the longest.

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