Rydal Water in the Lake District, Cumbria
Rydal Water in the Lake District, Cumbria (© Tranquillian1/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Winter on Rydal Water
Reflecting winter skies and frozen fells in our homepage image is Rydal Water, one of the smallest but prettiest lakes in the Lake District. Rydal Water is one of the two lakes most associated with William Wordsworth, one of England’s greatest poets. (The other is neighbouring Grasmere, to which Rydal is connected by the River Rothay.) Wordsworth lived around these bodies of water, first at Dove Cottage and later Rydal Mount, between 1799 and 1850, writing some of his best-known works and hosting leading lights of the Romantic movement, including his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. To the western edge of the lake is Wordsworth’s Seat, a rocky outcrop said to be the writer’s favourite spot.
© Tranquillian1/iStock/Getty Images Plus