Bed and Breakfast Lake District

Wordsworth House, the Cumbria birthplace of Romantic poet William Wordsworth, escaped destruction by inches when floods swept the Lake District.

Volunteers and staff battled to rescue precious artefacts in the 17th-century house, which stands in the centre of Cockermouth in the Lake District, after the town was ravaged by “unprecedented” rainfall.

RAF helicopters rescued more than 200 people from the Cumbrian town and lifeboats were launched as Cockermouth bore the brunt of heavy rain and strong winds.

As water coursed down the Main Street, on which Wordsworth House stands, much of the garden’s brick walls, which have survived since the 1690s, collapsed under the force of it.

The terrace, where William Wordsworth played as a boy with his sister Dorothy and contemplated the river – remembered in his autobiographical poem, The Prelude, has also been swept away.

A spokesperson for the house said that the house itself has been saved by just inches. “The width of the floorboards saved the ground floor,” they said. “The main rooms in the house have survived by about two inches.”

But they added that the gardens had been “trashed”. “The garden contains probably half the debris of the town and river, as it swept through.”

However, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and staff, some of whom had been forced to leave their own homes, the contents of the house were saved.

Jeremy Barlow, property manager, described how the building and its contents were rescued. He told the Times that on Thursday afternoon, they waded waist-deep in filthy water to move artefacts to the safety of the first floor, including a desk belonging to William’s father, John Wordsworth.

Mr Barlow added: “The historic part of the house has been saved. Effectively all that is on the first floor, which was above the water level. We managed to get all the important historical items up on to the first floor.”

He went on to praise the residents of Cockermouth, who had come to the house’s rescue.

“It was only afterwards that we found out some of the helpers had already been evacuated from their own homes. I think that says it all about the people of this town.”

John Darlington, the National Trust’s assistant director of operations in the North West, described people’s efforts to protect the house as “amazing”.

The floods are not the first time Wordsworth House came under threat. In 1937, the house was nearly demolished to build a bus station, but it was saved by the people of Cockermouth and given to the National Trust in 1939.

Wordsworth House is a huge source of tourism for Cockermouth and the surrounding areas, and its survival means that it can continue to attract people from the rest of the country and the wider world. It is hoped that the destruction caused by the floods will not discourage tourism for too long, and that people will continue to visit this beautiful county. Many bed and breakfasts around the Lake District are still open for business and welcome holidaymakers.

We accredit The Telegraph for the inspiration for this article.

Workers at the Wordsworth House will try and encourage tourists back through the door using google local search, once the floods have subsided.