MY VISIT TO GRASMERE LAKE

MY VISIT TO GRASMERE LAKE ( Lake District)

After our memorable visit to Shakespeare’s home at Stratford upon Avon, Oxford and the city of London, we returned to Newcastle and had the desired rest after the hectic tour. The beautiful sights that we saw in London still linger in our minds.we spent time visiting a few Sai devotees and attending the Sai Bhajan at the Sai Center in Newcastle. No visit to England can be complete without visiting the Lake District. We planned to go there as early as possible since it was nearer to Newcastle and we could leave in the morning and return by the evening. A relative of mine, Arun, offered to take us there at a convenient date. Finally we set out on August 6,2016 in the morning at about 11. 30 am. It was a two hour drive from Newcastle and we enjoyed the drive all the way witnessing the breathtaking scenes of the mountains and the valley!

Also called Lakeland, Lake District is a mountainous region North West of England and a popular holiday destination famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains or fells as they are called. Finishing our lunch on the way we reached the famous Ullswater lake the second largest lake in the district. Nine miles long and 197 feet deep, it is the most beautiful of English lakes. It is compared to lake Lucerne in Switzerland! This ribbon lake was formed after the last ice age when a glacier scooped out the valley floor and when the glacier retreated, the deepened section filled with ‘ melt water' which became a lake! A total of three separate glaciers formed the lake.Ullswater lake forms the border between the ancient counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland. William Wordsworth is said to have composed his poem ‘Daffodils’  at this lake!

Windermere lake is the largest ribbon lake in England formed in a glacier trough. A part of the border between Lancashire and Westmoreland, it is now in the county of Cumbria. With a length of ,11.23 miles and a depth of 219 feet, it is one of the finest lakes! Windermere town, the popular tourist spot is a mile away from the lake. Grasmere is one of the smallest lakes in the Lake District and the village gets its name from the lake.  We reached Grasmere by about 4 pm and went round the places nearby.

Grasmere is immortalized in English literature by its association with the early Romantic poets who lived and moved about this village. Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey lived and wrote a few great poems here. We went to the Dove Cottage where the poet Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived. The hallowed home is preserved very well by the Trust.we saw the drawing room, kitchen,and bathroom used by the poet. We also saw the bed used by Dorothy and a few of the utensils used by the poet and his sister. It was a very interesting experience.

Next we walked into the Wordsworth Museum where his works and writings of his sister and Coleridge were preserved! I went back to those years when I taught my students the poems of Wordsworth! I also remembered the great poems ‘The Prelude’, ‘Ode on the intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood’ and others that I read. Wordsworth was inspired by Nature and he is rightly called the Nature Poet. He turns spiritual in his ode. He saw life through the eyes of Nature and said ‘ Let Nature be Your Teacher' in one of his poems! We saw the photos of Southey and Coleridge also. We concluded our visit to the lakes with a hot cup of coffee and drove home reaching Newcastle by 7.30 pm the same day.