A Year in Grasmere

My thesis, Wordsworth, Creativity and Cumbrian Communities examines the ways that Wordsworth interacted with a variety of local communities, his impact on these communities, and their impact on his poetry. As a collaborative doctoral award student, I am affiliated with both the University of Leeds and the Wordsworth Trust, so as planned, in 2015 I left Leeds and spent a year based at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere. Whilst I had loved visiting the Lake District for many years as a mountaineering tourist, I was not exactly sure what to expect when I came to live and work in a Cumbrian museum. Yet since Wordsworth’s connection with Cumbria is a key aspect of my research, it was certain that my time in Grasmere would inform my research in a number of different ways. I offer you now an insight into how my time was occupied, my research developed, and the new skills I gained as a result of my time in Grasmere.