The village of Grasmere, Cumbria, England is a popular tourist spot due to its central location in the country’s Lake District. Currently, it has a population of around 1,500 people. The town also shares its name with the nearby lake, and it is located in the central part of the county of Cumbria.
Grasmere sits near to the presence of Helm Crag, a small and rocky hill which draws several nicknames from the shapes of the outcroppings and rock formations on the hill. The town is also famous for being one of the homes of the poet William Wordsworth, who had two properties in Grasmere. Dove Cottage is the spot where Wordsworth is said to have written much of his finest literary work.
The other one of the two homes of the poet is Rydal Mount, which is located on one of the town’s hillsides. Wordsworth wrote none of his poetry while resident there, preferring instead to concentrate on his gardening, though he was Great Britain’s Poet Laureate at the time.
Perhaps the modern day’s most famous part-time inhabitant of Grasmere is the rock star Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler. Other personages of note have included, among others, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who is said to have developed more than a few of the stanzas to his poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” while also staying at Dove Cottage.
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Cumbria, in the northwestern part of the country, currently has a population of around 500,000 people. It came into being in 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act of 1972. It is also the third largest ceremonial county by land mass in all of England. It has a picturesque Irish Sea coastline, and is predominantly rural in nature. Both Grasmere and this county are typical examples of English life and living.
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