romantic poetry; cult comedy

Wander lonely as a poet one day, take a holiday by mistake the other, and discover two very different takes on one of Britain’s best-loved landscapes.

Love Wordsnail or Withworth?

“The loveliest spot that man hath ever found.” “I shall die here on this f**king mountainside.”

Two takes on the same place: the Lake District. The first was Romantic poet William Wordsworth in the 19th century; the second was Richard E. Grant in Bruce Robinson’s cult 1980s film Withnail and I. This weekend takes a walk with both.

From the moment Wordsworth first laid eyes on the Vale of Grasmere as a boy he loved it, writing “What happy fortune it were here to live!” And he did live here for many years, in four different houses including Dove Cottage which is now a museum. A six-mile route around Grasmere and Rydal Water visits some of the poet’s favourite haunts, including Loughrigg Terrace and the shores of Rydal Water. Wordsworth was a man who loved to walk – it’s thought 180,000 miles in total – often composing verse on the hoof. According to fellow writer Thomas de Quincey it “was a mode of exercise which, to him, stood in the stead of alcohol and other stimulants.”

A dozen crow-miles across the fells (further by car) takes you to Wet Sleddale, and a man who relished alcohol and other stimulants including lighter fluid, and didn’t much care for walking: “There’s nothing out there except a hurricane.” Withnail and his mate Marwood (the I of the title) take a “holiday by mistake” to Uncle Monty‘s Lakeland cottage of Crow Crag, or Sleddale Hall in reality. The dale squeaks into the Lake District national park, but its spirit is more akin to the lonely moorland of its North Pennine neighbours and it often earns the wet in its name, including during filming. “This place is uninhabitable,” Withnail declares as they arrive, but the derelict house is now being restored by architect Tim Ellis. Footpaths run close on all sides so you get a good view and Tim won’t mind you looking: “I wouldn’t have bought the place if I didn’t think Withnail fans were going to come up here quite a bit.” As well as Crow Crag, your six-mile outing visits the bridge over Sleddale Beck where Withnail yells “I want something’s flesh” before wading in and blasting at trout with a shotgun. You might spot a filmmaker’s sleight of location, as the water here – Wet Sleddale Reservoir – was replaced in the film with the stunt double of Haweswater, over the hills to the west.

FILM SET SLEDDALE Atmospheric, even as it lives up to the wet in its name. Withnail’s solution? Boots in the oven; bags on the feet.

RESTORATION MAN The ‘horrible little shack’ as seen in Withnail and I (inset above) is now being restored in “a style complementary to the film”. ‘ LEGS CERTAINLY NOT ORNAMENTAL’Right and inset top left: Rydal Water was a favourite walk of Wordsworth’s, but all his walking left him with unsightly legs, according to friend Thomas De Quincey.