Dove Cottage--Grasmere

Here we are at Dove Cottage in Grasmere which is located in one of my favorite places in England--the Lake District. Who knows if Elizabeth Bennett ever traveled here after she married Mr. Darcy and made up for the disappointment of not being able to tour here with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, but it is well worth visiting and I hope to come here many more times while in England! Dove Cottage was the home of the renowned poet William Wordsworth from 1799 to 1808. This time period is considered his 'golden decade' and is when he wrote most of his greatest poems! This house used to be an inn and the ground floor is dark and cramped. I wouldn't have liked living on that floor. The upper floor is better.
The beginning of one of Wordsworth's poems, particularly fitting to me, goes like this --

Up! Up! my friend, and clear your looks,
Why all this toil and trouble?
Up! Up! my friend, and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double.

In other words, stop studying so much! So, Liz and I took that profound advice and here we are doing what the third verse of the poem says--

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife,
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music; on my life
There's more of wisdom in it.

We are out in Wordsworth's garden behind the house and enjoying the varied sound of the birds and possibly learning a bit of wisdom from their song!
Down in the town of Grasmere, maybe a 1/4 mile from the cottage is Wordsworth's grave. He died in 1850. Many of his family members are buried here as well.