Rydal Mount and Gardens

"They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;"🖋

📘 William (and Mary) Wordsworth, extract from 'I wandered lonely as a cloud'.

🌼 While it may not be "a host of golden daffodils" yet, there is something poetic about this solitary flower, standing tall and bright next to the bay window at Rydal Mount. It certainly has bloomed with perfect timing. William credited the lines quoted above to his wife, Mary, and many have said they are the loveliest lines of the poem. Perhaps this daffodil recognises "the bliss of solitude".

🏡 Happy March 1st, and Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus from Rydal Mount!

"...What would little Tabby care
For the plaudits of the crowd?
Over happy to be proud,
Over wealthy in the treasure
Of her own exceeding pleasure! ..."🖋

📘 William Wordsworth, extract from 'The Kitten and the Falling Leaves'.

🐈 Now that the weather is (slowly) warming, Dora's back on her patrol, joining us in the garden for a stroll. And of course, if she sees a camera, she can't resist striking a pose. This little Tabby certainly cares for the plaudits of the crowd - it only adds to her treasure!

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"She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn; ..."🖋

📘 William Wordsworth, extract from 'She was a Phantom of delight'.

🖼 Portrait of William and Mary Wordworth, 1839 by Margaret Gillies.

💕 Happy Valentine's Day from Rydal Mount!

"Tuesday 13 - very bright morning rather windy & cold - Mr Barber came & walked with me to Quary after dinner - Tea & cards & home by moonlight - snow falls on mount in night" 🖋

📔 Extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's journal, 13th February 1827.

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"What way does the wind come? What way does he go?
He rides over the water, and over the snow,
Through wood, and through vale; o'er rocky height,
Which the goat cannot climb, takes his sounding flight;
He tosses about in every bare tree,
As, if you look up, you plainly may see;
But how he will come, and whither he goes,
There's never a scholar in England knows."🖋

📔 Dorothy Wordsworth, 'Address to a Child During a Boisterous Winter Evening'.

🌬 Happy Monday! We had some blustery weather at Rydal Mount last week, dusting the surrounding fell tops with some an icing of snow. During this time of year, it comes and goes as the wind blows - I'll leave the rest of the poetry up to dear Dorothy, who captures a Lakeland winter's evening perfectly.

"Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!"🖋

📘 William Wordsworth, extract from 'To a Snow-Drop'.

🏡 Welcome, February! The 'harbinger of Spring' has arrived at Rydal Mount en masse, and they are glorious. In this transitional period the snowdrop encompasses both winter and spring, blossoming patches of snow across our gardens.

"The leafless trees, and every icy crag
Tinkled like iron, while the distant hills
Into the tumult sent an alien sound
Of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars,
Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west
The orange sky of evening died away." 🖋

📘 William Wordsworth, extract from 'The Prelude, Book 1'.

✨️ Winter in the Rydal Mount Garden = pure magic. However, it takes hard work to be this beautiful. Our garden team have been working their own magic maintaining the grounds to ensure they always look their best - and they certainly do!

"Again loveliest of days - after dinner to Ambleside - Mrs Green & Owen Lloyd to tea - S H home from Mr Carr's at 10 - lovely calm frosty night."🖋

📔 Extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's journal, 26th January, 1831.

🚶‍♀️Ambleside is not far from Rydal Mount, a 30 minute ramble through the glorious Rydal Park. On the way back home to Rydal, there are dramatic views of the Fairfield Horseshoe, captured here on a bleak but beautiful January day.

"They followed from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none!

--Yet some maintain that to this day
She is a living child;
That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
Upon the lonesome wild." 🖋

📘 William Wordsworth, extract from 'Lucy Gray'. ❄️

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