Brightly colored terraced houses and restored workers’ cottages beside the river count among the key attractions in the busy market town of Cockermouth, which dates from the 12^th century.

The elegant Georgian Wordsworth House, where the poet William Wordsworth was born in 1770, is a must-see. The best known of the Romantic poets, Wordsworth was born in the Lake District and spent most of his life there. After school in Hawkshead and a period at Cambridge he settled at Dove Cottage. Wordsworth’s prose works include one of the earliest guidebooks to the Lake District. Poet’s House displays some of the family’s possessions and is furnished in late 18^th century style.

The ruined  Cockermouth Castle is occasionally open to the public, most often during the Cockermouth Festival of music, which is held in July.