There are some houses so tied to a person that it’s hard to imagine anyone else living there and Rydal Mount, the Lake District house that William Wordsworth lived in from 1813 until his death in 1850, is just one of those. This is mainly due to the fact that since 1969, when Wordsworth’s great-great-granddaughter bought it back into the family, his descendants have been running it as a museum. Now, however, the costs of keeping it open and a dwindling number of visitors post-Covid has led the family to decide that it’s time to sell up.
William Wordsworth never actually owned Rydal Mount, instead renting it for many years from Baron of Rydal, Sir Richard Le Fleming. In 1969 the Le Fleming family sold it, and that is when it officially came back to the Wordsworths. Wordsworth’s great-great-granddaughter Mary Henderson bought the house, passing it on to her grandsons Christopher and Simon, the pair who are now sadly selling it on again.
“I don’t even want to think about having to sell it,” Christopher told The Times. “It is extremely sad. I have been coming up to Rydal eight or nine times a year, and every time I think ‘why don’t I live here?’, it is so beautiful.” However, as the family does not live in the area, it has become increasingly difficult for them to run the house, and visitor numbers have more than halved since the pandemic.
Sad as it is to see a piece of history pass on, it is very happy news for whoever ends up buying Rydal Mount, as the seven-bedroom detached house is quite spectacular. Located near Windermere but within its own land, it has views across Rydal Water and up to the village, as well as acres of lovely gardens that are still largely to the designs implemented by Wordsworth himself.
It is a remarkable chance to own a piece of literary history – and to sit in the same window that saw Wordsworth pen many of his most beloved poems. The house is lovely inside and out, with a cream facade covered in climbing plants and a wealth of period charm inside, from exposed beams and flagstone floors to a beautiful central staircase with dark wood banisters and spindles.
It is one of three houses which Wordsworth occupied in the area, and will be the first to close to the public: his former cottage in Grasmere is now the famous Wordsworth Museum and the other is currently a National Trust property. Rydal Mount is the house in which the poet lived the longest, and it will be a sad goodbye for the family.
Rydal Mount is for sale via Ashdown Jones for £2.5 million.
