Rydal Water is a small
lakeA lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all. Another definition is, a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land...
in the central region of the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Lake DistrictThe Lake District, also known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a rural area in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes and its mountains , and its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets.The central and...
, in the county of
CumbriaCumbria is a shire county in the North West of England. Cumbria came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...
. It is a quarter of a mile in width and 55 feet in depth.
It is located near the
hamletA hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community...
of
RydalRydal is an English village located in the shire county of Cumbria, which is in North West England. Historically within Westmorland, the village of Rydal is situated on the A591 road that runs between Junction 36 of the M6 and Carlisle, England...
, between
GrasmereGrasmere is a village in central Cumbria, England. Historically within the county of Westmorland, it is also the name of the adjacent lake. Grasmere's position in the centre of the English Lake District, as well as its connections with the Lake Poets, has made it popular as a tourist destination...
and
AmblesideAmbleside is a town in Cumbria, in North West England.Historically within the county of Westmorland, it is situated at the head of Windermere, England's largest lake...
in the Rothay Valley. Rydal was home to
William WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
for 37 years.
Dove CottageDove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District. It is best known as the home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth from December 1799 to May 1808, where they spent over eight years of "plain living, but high thinking"...
was one of his homes there.
Rydal MountRydal Mount is a house near Ambleside in the Lake District. It is best known as the home of William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850....
was the other.
Nab Cottage overlooks the lake and it was once home to
Thomas de QuinceyThomas de Quincey was an English author and intellectual, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:...
and
Hartley ColeridgeHartley Coleridge was an English writer. He was the eldest son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge....
, the son of
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets...
. Close by is the historic
Rydal HallRydal Hall is an early 19th century Grade II listed historic house on the outskirts of the village of Rydal, Cumbria in the Lake District, England. It is opposite Rydal Mount, home of the poet William Wordsworth...
.
Rydal Water is surrounded by numerous walks on the hills and fells, as well as a walk around the lake itself, which takes in Dove Cottage, Rydal Mount and Rydal Cave. At the western end of the lake, steps lead to
Wordsworth's Seat, which is considered to have been Wordsworth's favourite viewpoint in the Lake District.
White Moss HouseWhite Moss House is situated at the north end of Rydal Water.William Wordsworth bought White Moss House when he moved from Dove Cottage Grasmere to Rydal Mount....
http://www.whitemoss.com at the northern end of the lake, is believed to be the only house that Wordsworth ever bought. He bought it for his son, Willie, and the family lived there until the 1930s