postcard from windermere
the lake, your eyes a work of art
I wanted to write a lyric poem inspired by my time in Windermer and inspired by Wordsworth, so I chose to format my piece for this postcard after “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” Lyric poetry is not typically what I write, and I wrote this rather quickly, so be gentle with me.
For Now, My Heart in Windermere
The winter solstice comes and goes When I feel a lilting in my heart A reminder that true love is made of gold The lake, your eyes a work of art And so the year ends with you by my side A ring, a promise for all of time Glittering is the sky, purple is the wine I hold a cup of warmth in my hands Sitting with a muse that is only mine In every time across all lands That look of love in just one glance The comfort of love in a fire's dance And the waves of time may spirits toss All the clearest skies will grow dark The white of snow turns to the green of moss The cool of winter turns to the heat of summer spark Yet still my cheeks grow pink with blush At the first instance of a lover's touch For now, my heart in Windermere Two cups of tea sit side-by-side Oh, how I wish I could stay here Where for forever I could reside The poets die, but romance lives on In every poem and in every song
Our trip to England ended with a regrettably brief stay in the Lake District. We stayed at the loveliest bed and breakfast in Windermere called Cedar Manor (who I would recommend to everyone in the whole world). This was, by far, the most relaxing portion of our trip.
We arrived a bit early for check-in, so we parked our rental car and took a short walk down to admire some nearby scenery despite the chilliness of the day.
We arrived in Windermere on New Year’s Eve, so after checking in and resting a bit in our room, we went out for some drinks before our dinner reservation at The Lamplighter. I had the most delicious mulled wine at The Crafty Baa. I don’t know if it was the cold or if it was the wine itself, but it was an otherwordly experience. I went back the next night specifically for another glass of it. After drinks, we walked over to our dinner where I had a lovely steak and a heavenly crumble with custard (why don’t we have custard in America? It’s a crime).
Sadly, we were so exhausted (and I was so drunk from a my wine and bellinis) that we didn’t make it to midnight and passed out before 10 pm. We awoke to the sound of fireworks, but I was too tired to get up and peek outside to see them.
The next day we had reservations to see Dove Cottage, and not to brag, but we were the first people to tour Wordsworth’s old home in 2026. I had taken a course on the romantic poets in undergrad, and was beyond thrilled to see the place where such a famous and talented poet wrote many of his works. The cottage is set up as if Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, still live there. They even have some original aritifacts in the house which was absolutely amazing to see. The cottage was very cozy and romantic to me. It was easy to see why it was such a special place for writing, gathering, and living. It was a bit cold and muddy to explore much of the grounds (I didn’t wear my boots that day), but the connecting museum was bsolutely full of interesting things to see - including original journals and letters from both Wordsworth and Dorothy. We also took a walk to visit the family gravesite to pay our respects.
We returned to our room for a bit of relaxation and some reading before our scheduled afternoon tea at Cedar Manor. When I tell you this was the highlight, I cannot emphasize enough how special this tea was. I had never had afternoon tea before, and the owners of Cedar Manor make this an absolutely wonderful experience. We dined over the course of a couple hours in their lounge, and our tea and snacks were brought it in various courses. We started with a soup and small appetizer before moving onto sandwiches and tea and then finally wrapping up with a tower of sweets. We hadn’t eaten that day besdies a quick snack at Dove Cottage, so our stomachs were prepared to fully enjoy the experience - which we sure did.
We spent the rest of our evening enjoying our room before going to bed. This was sadly our last night before we drove back to London for our flight home. We didn’t have nearly enough time in the Lake District, and I dream of going back in the spring or summer to spend more time absorbing all the beauty the area has to offer.
thanks for reading!
xoxo,
morgan
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other postcards from this trip:
enjoyed this - and it brought back memories of Windermere. thank you.
I loved reading this! Thank you for sharing this with us! I loved visiting Windermere back in 2024 with my group of friends. I’ll never forget my time there!