Applethwaite

The hamlet of Applethwaite, with its several dozen houses, sits at the foot of Skiddaw with views of the north-west fells and Borrowdale. Streams run from the mountainside down through the farmland around. Sheep dog trails are held yearly in the village.

Wordsworth once owned land here; it was presented to him by Sir George Beaumont with the idea of building a house on it so Wordsworth could be near his friend, Coleridge.

Wordsworth described the land thus: . . . lies beautifully upon the banks of a rill that gurgles down the side of Skiddaw, and the orchard and other parts of the grounds command a magnificent prospect of Derwent Water, and of the mountains of Borrowdale and Newlands. As in many cases, he wrote a poem about the gift:

Beaumont! it was thy wish that I should rear
A seemly Cottage in this sunny Dell,
On favoured ground, thy gift, where I might dwell
In neighbourhood with One to me most dear, . . .

Wordsworth never built on the land but gave the property to his daughter.

St Marys church in the village is plain with some stained glass windows. The other church here is St John the Evangelist.

Location Map of Applethwaite
Applethwaite is just off the A591, one mile north of Keswick.

Photos courtesy Andy Wallace and Tony Richards

© 1997-2008 by The Cumbria Directory. Reproduction of this work in whole or in part, including images, and reproduction in electronic media, without documented permission from The Cumbria Directory is prohibited.