Wordsworth Trust

It also looks after the majority of the surrounding properties in the conservation area of Town End, and a collection of manuscripts, books and fine art relating to Wordsworth and other writers and artists of the Romantic period.

Its creation followed a successful appeal for funds to purchase Dove Cottage, "for the eternal possession of those who love English poetry all over the world".

Their model was Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, which had been purchased for the nation in 1847, but part of their motivation was also "the associations, personal, literary and moral, which gather around this cottage".

In 1981 this was replaced by the current Museum at Wordsworth Grasmere, which is in a converted coachhouse immediately to the north of Dove Cottage.

In 2005 the collection was re-housed in the Jerwood Centre at the Wordsworth Trust, a purpose-built repository with research facilities adjacent to the Museum.

[14] In March 2018, the UK Government announced that Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership had secured funding to enhance visitor attractions in the Lake District including Dove Cottage and the Museum as part of the Northern Powerhouse project.

[15] The reopening of Dove Cottage was postponed from 7 April 2020, the 250th anniversary of Wordsworth's birth, to 15 August 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.