Garden prize comes back to Rydal again

We are thrilled to be winners once again of a first prize for our beautiful gardens here at Rydal Mount.

Once again we scooped the top accolade in the visitor attractions and historic houses category. The trophy was awarded by Ambleside Horticultural and Craft Society and Lakes Parish Council in the annual “parish in bloom” competition.

And we are certain that William Wordsworth himself would have been equally delighted. He used to say that he would have been a landscape gardener had he not been successful as a poet. We think he would be very pleased with our efforts today to restore these extensive grounds according to plans that he made.

And while we know that the gardens – and house – are loved by visitors from all over the world, it’s always gratifying to get local recognition too.

The hard work has been done by our gardeners Helen Green and Pauline Brumwell who are pictured here with the trophy.

 

 

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“I wandered lonely” goes Dutch thanks to Wordsworth fans from Holland

A couple from the Netherlands who are social media ambassadors for the Lake District have translated Wordworth’s  Daffodils into Dutch.

Rob and Cobie te Nijenhuis fell in love with the poet’s work when they visited his home here at Rydal Mount this summer. Great fans of the Lakes, who had been coming here for 26 years, this was their first visit to this house  where William Wordsworth spend most of his life.

“We had seen Wordsworth’s grave and heard he wrote a poem about daffodils, but he’s not well known in the Netherlands,” said Rob, a retired banker from Hummelo.

All that is set to change as Rob, a prolific tweeter who spends much of his time on social media telling the world of the loveliness of the English Lakes,  has become a great Wordsworth fan. He translated the poem after he and Cobie visited Rydal this summer as our guests and he has now sent us a copy of the poem in Dutch.

A story about the couple’s love affair with the Lakes has recently been published in their local newspaper.

“The Lake District is the most beautiful place in the world,” he said. “We love England, but especially the Lakes.”

Rob and Cobie, who works as a commercial publisher, have stayed in Little Langdale every holiday, originally at Wilson Place farm and then at Damson View cottage.

We were delighted to meet Rob and Cobie this summer, and will now put their translation of the poem on display in the house.

 

Narcissen, door William Wordsworth

Ik wandelde als een eenzame wolk

Die hoog over valleien en heuvels drijft

Toen ik opeens een menigte zag

Een leger gouden narcissen

Naast het meer,onder de bomen

Fladderend en dansend in de bries

 

Continue als de sterren schijnen

En op de Melkweg twinkelen

Ze strekten zich uit als een oneindige lijn

Langs de kant van een baai

In een flits zag ik er tienduizenden

Hun hoofden opengooiend in een levendige dans

 

De golven naast hun dansten: maar zij

Deden of zij de sprankelende golven ingleden

Een Poëet kon niet anders dan homo zijn

In zulk vrolijk gezelschap

Ik heb gekeken en gekeken, maar kleine gedachten

De weelde die de show mij had gebracht

 

Vaak, als ik op mijn divan lig

In vacante of nadenkende stemming

Knipperen op dat innerlijke oog

Welke het geluk van eenzaamheid is

En dan is mijn hart met geluk gevuld

En danst met de narcissen

 

Translation by Rob te Nijenhuis