Dora’s field, adjacent to St. Mary’s Church, in the picturesque village of Rydal displays ‘a host of golden daffodils’ in the spring.
The field was owned by William Wordsworth, who lived at Rydal Mount which stands further up the hillside.
The sloping land was originally known as Rashfield, probably because it is damp and rushes grew there.
Wordsworth had planned to build a house on the site, but it was later given to his daughter Dora. When she died of tuberculosis in 1847 the heartbroken poet planted the hillside with daffodils in her memory. The field puts on a superb display of daffodils in early Spring and later, which are replaced with a carpet of bluebells in late Spring.
Dora Wordsworth is buried in the graveyard of St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere, along with her parents, siblings and aunt Sarah Hutchinson.
The land was gifted to the National Trust by the poet’s grandson Gordon Wordsworth in 1935.
Limited free parking can be found on the road outside of the church leading to Rydal Mount.
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