‘Nature never did betray the heart that loved her’

AS well as being a revered poet, William Wordsworth was a keen landscape gardener. So much so that Rydal Mount, the beloved home he rented in the Lake District, was acquired by the Wordsworth family in 1969 and placed in the trust of curators.

This month sees the arrival of Matt and Emily Heath—and this isn’t a job they take lightly. Previous incumbents Peter and Marian Elkington were in residence for 25 years. Although curators may come and go (albeit every quarter century), the garden, tended by head gardener Helen Green, remains the constant. It’s a romantic tangle of plants, with rare shrubs, trees and rhododendrons all vying for space, very much as Nature and Wordsworth intended. The Heaths are brimming with ideas for how to build on the foundations that the Elkingtons have laid, further extending the reach of this literary dwelling. Mr Heath plans to hold supper clubs and expand the tea room and Mrs Heath will host literary, visual-arts and well-being retreats.

‘Having spent 21 years in central London, the opportunity to live somewhere otherworldly beautiful is incredibly appealing,’ says Mr Heath. ‘We believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and we will strive to preserve Rydal Mount’s rural charm, in the words of Wordsworth himself, “to defend us from the tyranny of trimness and neatness”.’ Visit www.rydalmount.co.uk or telephone 01539 433002 for further information. Alexandra Johnson