Rydal Water, Lake District

Poet and keen walker William Wordsworth described Rydal as "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found". In his Guidebook to the Lake District he suggested the best way to appreciate it:

"passing behind Rydal Mount and under Nab Scar…very favourable to views of the lake and the vale…The horse road…under Loughrigg fell, does justice to the beauties of this small mere, of which the traveller who keeps the high road is not at all aware."

This trail around Rydal Water follows Wordsworth's route but has has more to show us than "favourable views". From rocks to reservoirs, burbling becks to bearing the dead, uncover the stories behind the place that he called home.

View and print the route for free at Discovering Britain