Coleridge Cottage

Over het museum

On New Year's Eve 1796 the 24-year-old poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge moved his young family into a cramped cottage in Nether Stowey, in the Somerset countryside. During the three years he lived there he wrote some of his most celebrated poems, among them The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, Frost at Midnight and This Lime-tree Bower my Prison. Together with his friend William Wordsworth, who moved to the area for a time, he worked on Lyrical Ballads, a collection regarded as the start of the Romantic movement in English literature. Local people were suspicious of the radical young man who walked the lanes for pleasure. The family left on 19 December 1799 for the Lake District.

After Coleridge, a series of tenants lived in the cottage, and in the early 1800s it was refurbished and given the sash windows that remain today. In 1861 it became a carpenter's workshop and was later converted into an inn, with extra rooms, a raised roof and a tiled roof in place of thatch. In 1893 a committee formed to save it from life as a public house, and the National Trust acquired it in 1909.

For about a hundred years custodians lived in the cottage and only a few rooms were shown. A large restoration in 2011 recovered the Georgian features of the original rooms and reopened the garden, which has been recreated with plants the Coleridges are known to have grown. Visitors can see the poet's inkstand, a first edition of a celebrated Romantic text and locks of his hair, sit in the reading room and try writing with a quill.

Hoogtepunten

• Parlours and reading room in the home of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Collection with the poet's inkstand and a first edition of a celebrated Romantic text
• Recreated 18th-century cottage garden with a lime-tree bower
• Georgian kitchen where visitors can try on aprons and smell herbs
• Poet's Lunch in the tea-room

Vaste collectie

• The cottage and its collection – Rooms of the Georgian cottage with objects linked to Coleridge, including his inkstand, a first edition of a celebrated Romantic text and a reading room.

Opgericht

1998

Beheerder

National Trust

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

Prices are for the whole property without Gift Aid; with Gift Aid the adult price is £10.50, the child price £5.30 and the family price £26.20. National Trust members enter free. Tickets can be bought on the day without booking.

Toegankelijkheid

• Rolstoeltoegankelijk: niet aanwezig
• Lift: niet aanwezig
• Aangepast toilet: geen informatie
• Gehandicaptenparkeerplaats: niet aanwezig
• Hulphonden welkom
• Tastmodellen / voelbare objecten: geen informatie
• Rondleidingen in gebarentaal: geen informatie
• Informatie in eenvoudige taal: geen informatie
• Audiodescriptie: geen informatie

The cottage is unsuitable for wheelchairs because of its small rooms and doorways. There are three steps to the entrance, uneven floors, narrow corridors, cobbled areas outside and short steep slopes in the garden, and there is no accessible parking. Large-print guides and seating are available. Only registered guide dogs may enter the cottage, tea-room and garden.

Kinderen & gezin

Erg geschikt voor kinderen & gezinnen

• Speurtocht, doeboekje of kinderaudiotour
• Doe- en voelstations

Children can follow mouse-hunt cards around the cottage, try on Georgian costumes, write with a quill and ink, draw water from the old well and play lawn games in the garden.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

From the M5 leave at junction 23 and follow the A39 towards Minehead to Nether Stowey. The cottage is on Lime Street opposite the Ancient Mariner.

Service & horeca

• Café
• Museumwinkel

The tea-room serves drinks, cakes and the Poet's Lunch. The shop sells property souvenirs and gifts. The Ancient Mariner pub opposite the cottage is not run by the National Trust.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

• Ruimtes te huur
• Zakelijke evenementen

The garden room at the back of the cottage can be hired for meetings and seminars and has a projector, speaker and power outlets.

Je bezoek plannen