AFTER several months of closure, Dove Cottage is set to reopen following major restoration work.

The world-famous home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth is due to begin readmitting visitors on Saturday, August 15.

Originally slated to reopen on April 7,with a series of events to celebrate the poet's 250th anniversary, the plans were put on hold due to Number 10 restrictions on tourist sites, owing to the pandemic.

Just a few weeks before the planned birthday celebrations, a grand public opening and launch of the site's rebranding as Wordsworth Grasmere, the Wordsworth Trust closed Dove Cottage during one of the driest springs in years.

One of the few people to step inside the cottage during this period, Curator and Head of Learning at the cottage, Jeff Cowton, spoke of his excitement at the prospect of this 'remarkable' space being reopened to the public once again.

Ahead of the new reopening date, Mr Cowton said: "It was a privilege to be ‘locked down’ in Dove Cottage and Town End, to take time to appreciate the natural sounds of house and garden in our otherwise busy world.

"That is what they offer us all – a place to take time out, to imagine a young family doing day to day things yet creating writing – both poetry and journal – that speaks to us today.

"Just being here, reading and hearing these words in the place that inspired them, is a remarkable and uplifting experience. "

The restoration work undertaken at the site involves a newly-commissioned introductory film, which will now be shown to visitors prior to touring the restored cottage’s interiors.

Work to complete the Reimagining Wordsworth project also continues. When finished (a new completion date is yet to be announced), the £6.2m transformation, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will add further educational spaces to the site, aiming to strengthen the connection between the Wordsworths' work and the Lake District landscape that inspired it.

The new learning space at the site will be used as a temporary welcome area for visitors this summer.

The new café has received some minor adjustments during the lockdown period to provide a takeaway service and a simple eat-in menu.

As of mid-August, Dove Cottage is set to be open daily.

Limited places are available per session. All visits must be pre-booked online at: wordsworth.org.uk.

The Head of Visitor Experience at Dove Cottage, Stephanie Byast, said: "Visitors were always going to have a different experience here after such a significant redevelopment – it’s just going to be a little more different than we had planned!

"But we can assure visitors a period of distraction as they immerse themselves back into 1800, but with all 2020s visitor safety and care in place."

Michael McGregor, Director of the Wordsworth Trust, said: "We are excited to finally be able to welcome visitors to Wordsworth Grasmere, the home of one of our greatest poets.

"Inspired by Wordsworth’s own wish that his poetry ‘live and do good’, Reimagining Wordsworth will also celebrate the enduring significance and relevance of the poet in fresh and exciting ways.

"We look forward to welcoming diverse audiences from the UK and when the time is right, from across the world, to Wordsworth Grasmere to experience, in Wordsworth’s words, ‘The one sensation that is here’."