Rydal Mount

Wordsworth's home has been saved for the nation, and this is the inside story. William Wordsworth, the greatest of the Romantic Poets, lived at Rydal Mount in the English Lake District for most of his life. But he was only a tenant there. It was more than 100 years later that his descendants bought the house and it became their family home as well as a popular tourist attraction, a place for visitors from around the world to celebrate Wordsworth's poetry. In this detailed account, written with the support and co-operation of the poet's family, Eileen Jones looks at the history of Rydal Mount, the lives of the poet and his family there in the 19th century, and how later generations of Wordsworths brought artists, film stars, fine dining, concerts - and even a pageant of beauty queens - to the house. She describes how the extensive gardens have been restored to plans used by Wordsworth himself, and tells how she spent a night there in the poet's bedroom hoping to catch a glimpse of his ghost. And she has the inside story of the deal that saved the house for the nation. This is part biography, part Lake District history, and some literary detective work as well.