Dora's Field - The Wordsworth Way Traditional Geocache
Dora's Field - The Wordsworth Way
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A short walk through what is said to be the most famous beauty spot associated with William Wordsworth – a sea of Daffodils in Spring and Bluebells in Summer.
PLEASE NOTE: THE CACHE CAN BE REACHED WITHOUT LEAVING THE PATH - ALTHOUGH THE HIDING PLACE IS A BIT TRICKY - SO PLEASE DO NOT TRAMPLE ON THE DAFFODILS!!!! AND WE NEVER HIDE CACHES IN WALLS.
When threatened with eviction from Rydal Mount by his Landlady in order to house her aunt there, Wordsworth bought the field below Rydal Mount and proposed to build a house on it. Once his tenure was secured he had the field drained and gave it to his daughter Dora hence Dora’s Field. The daffodils here were planted by Wordsworth himself, when his beloved daughter Dora died from tuberculosis at the age of 42.
Faced with ever present reminders of how transitory life’s joys can be, having been predeceased by three of his children, in 1838 the poet had an inscription carved into a boulder in Dora’s Field. Aware that once he was gone the garden would be open to change by the next tenants, Wordsworth had the inscription carved into property that he owned where it remains to this day. Carving his declaration of faith into the very bones of the planet – the boulder known as Dora’s Rock bears these simple lines:
Wouldst thou be gathered to Christ’s chosen flock,
Shun the broad way too easily explored.
And let the path be hewn out of the Rock,
The living Rock of God’s eternal word.
The approach to Dora’s Rock, with stone steps laid by Wordsworth is a short twisting climb the very path ‘hewn out of rock’ that the inscription describes.
There is also a plaque mounted on a boulder in the north west corner of the field inscribed with ‘Wordsworth’s Preservation Legacy’ - extended not only to trees but also to rocks.
In these fair vales have many a tree
At Wordsworth’s suit been spared;
And from the builder’s hand this stone,
For some rude beauty of its own,
Was rescued by the Bard:
So let it rest; and time will come
When here the tender-hearted
May heave as gentle sigh for him,
As one of the departed.
This series charts some of the milestones in the life of the poet William Wordsworth, the main Biography appearing on ‘The Daffodils’ cache listing only.
Caches in this series:
The Daffodils - The Wordsworth Way
W.W. Memorial/Mire House - The Wordsworth Way
The Old School/Blelham Tarn - The Wordsworth Way
Dove Cottage/Rock of Names - The Wordsworth Way
The Old Rectory/Allan Bank - The Wordsworth Way
The Coffin Trail/Rydal Mount - The Wordsworth Way
Dora’s Field - The Wordsworth Way
Grisedale Tarn - The Wordsworth Way
Diana's Looking Glass - The Wordsworth Way
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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