Student field trip to Grasmere
Written by Emily Smith (Year 3, BA English Literature and Politics)
Though the weather was far from spring-like, the Department of English’s trip to Grasmere in the Lake District during the Easter vacation certainly had us ‘dancing with the daffodils’ - sometimes literally. We arrived in the village on Wednesday afternoon and settled into our accommodation, after seeking directions from a mysterious man in a red coat and blue velvet trousers, whose aura seemed to haunt us for the rest of our trip. Afterwards, we set about seeing the sights of Grasmere, starting with St Oswald’s church, where William Wordsworth, along with other members of his family, is buried. This was where our treasure hunt officially began, with the group on the lookout for a tree that may have been planted by Wordsworth, a bookshop that dates back to the Victorian period, a place to get spicy-sweet treats, as well as some more obscure items; the writer’s shed, or something necessary for icy frolics. Afterwards, in true Romantic style, we took shelter from the rain under a big tree in the graveyard of St Oswald’s and read some extracts of William and Dorothy Wordsworth’s work. We spoke about the sense of belonging that comes with village life, and the cyclical nature of being born and buried in the same place. We carried on this conversation as we walked to the restaurant we had booked for dinner, noting all of the places that the Wordsworths would have walked past and admired each day.
On Thursday, we awoke to yet more rain and started our day with coffee and a seminar on Wordsworth’s The Prelude, which explores his own sublime experiences with nature. It was quite surreal to hear a poem that was written more than 200 years ago about surroundings that we could still see today out of the windows of our hostel. We walked to Dove Cottage, where William lived with his sister Dorothy, and played dress up in the museum’s collection of ‘Wordsworthian garb’, as stated in the treasure hunt. We wriggled out of corsets and hoop cage skirts to walk around the Cottage, admiring the desk where William wrote, the roaring fires and the newspapers that Dorothy used to insulate her bedroom in the winter months. The group raided the gift shop and then had some free time, with some choosing to get the bus to Ambleside and see the waterfalls, with others seeking shelter from the rain in the local pub. We then re-grouped to learn about the relationship between race, empire and literary tourism, which was eye-opening and something we were eager to discuss as we continued with our visit. After dinner at Tweedies, we took our obligatory group photo and had a cosy night of pints and prattle.
Our last day was, typically, sunny. We went for coffee and cake in the morning before setting off back home to Liverpool at midday. It was a trip packed with poetry, sight-seeing, beautiful scenery and fun – one that definitely needs to be done again.