Before the house was built the site was regarded as an "essential viewing point" for early visitors to the Lake District in the 18th century.

[1] In 1852 the resident was the Victorian wood engraver, poet, artist, book illustrator and social reformer William James Linton who bought the house the following year.

Before Ruskin came to Brantwood in the following year, he arranged for repairs to the house, the addition of a turret, the building of a lodge for his valet and his family and for improvements to the garden.

[7] For a short time during his stay at Brantwood, Ruskin held tutorial sessions, what would be called today as teaching seminars.

When he was in residence, Ruskin filled the house with art, including paintings by Gainsborough, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites and a collection of minerals, pottery and sea-shells.

Ruskin was joined in the house by Arthur Severn, an artist married to Joan Agnew, his cousin and their growing family.

A frequent visitor to the house was William Gershom Collingwood, painter, archaeologist and translator of Nordic sagas who lived nearby.

Emily Warren, John Ruskin's last pupil, instigated a successful movement to have Brantwood made into a museum.

The wallpaper is a copy of Ruskin's design and his drawing of the north porch of St. Mark's, Venice, hangs above the shell-cabinet.

[18] The garden was used by Ruskin to experiment in various forms of cultivation and drainage and it contains a series of steep and winding paths.