The Georgian property of Wordsworth house in Cockermouth, William Wordsworth childhood home, had a new addition to their garden last year. Three hens joined the team of dedicated garden staff and volunteers, doing their bit to help control garden pests by eating any that they were given. The fine looking ladies were an attraction in their own right and proved very popular with visitors as well as those who work in the gardens but late in the season all was not well.
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| Poppy's surprise at Hetty's return |
Despite having the finest hen house, carefully made the Georgian way with hand made nails and native hardwood timber, one of the hens had 'flown the coup' seeking an adventure of her own, perhaps inspired by Wordsworth's famous poetic descriptions of the lake district on the doorstep.
Fearing that she had been stolen, a safer place was sought for the remaining two birds to overwinter and they came to stay with my flock in the woods. Just days later the missing hen Hetty was found, she was in the building next door to Wordsworth house where she had been eating flys and spiders to her heart's content. Being a rare breed Scott's dumpy hen (one of only a few breeds of hen kept in the Northern England in Georgian times) and not having especially long legs seemed to have limited how far she was able to "wander lonely as a cloud"
Reunited with her hen housemates Poppy and Maisey, all three have been happily scratching and pecking ever since and after a busy summer season in the Wordsworth House garden being admired by many and eating as much as a hen can, they are back in the tranquillity of the wood for another winter.
To find out how you can see these hens click here
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| Wordsworth hens reunited |
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