Last month I spent a long weekend in the Lake District, the beautiful area in North West England renowned for its lakes, mountains and literary associations: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles and Mary Lamb, Robert Southey, Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin all lived there at some point in their lives.
But it is the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) who is most closely associated with the Lake District. Born in the Cumbrian market town of Cockermouth, he spent his early years in the area, before going away to study and travel, returning to the Lake District to settle in autumn 1799, a decision brought on after a bout of homesickness experienced whilst travelling in Germany the previous year.
Whilst in Germany – staying with his sister, Dorothy, in Goslar in the winter of 1798-99 – Wordsworth began work on what is probably his most famous poem, The Prelude. Subtitled Growth of a Poet’s Mind, this poem – composed between 1799 and 1805, though subject to various revisions during Wordsworth’s life – uses the epic form (originally put to use to recount military feats [The Iliad], the founding of nations [The Aeneid] or theological questions [Paradise Lost]) in the service of an autobiographical narrative. In the course of the 13 or 14 books of the poem – depending which version you are reading – Wordsworth takes the reader on a journey from his childhood through his development as a poet.
In the opening book, in which Wordsworth describes his childhood, he makes many references to the Lake District, including ‘Derwent’ water, his birth town of ‘Cockermouth’ and ‘distant Skiddaw’s lofty height’. He also describes specific incidents that took place in his childhood setting, highlighting the long-lasting effect they had on him. In one of the best-known episodes he describes how one evening, when he was home from school, he stole a ‘Shepherd’s Boat’, tied up by the ‘shores of Patterdale’ and started rowing it across the lake. However, as he rows and looks up to the fells, ‘the huge Cliff / Rose up between me and the stars, and still / Strode after me.’ Terrified by this supernatural vision, conjured up by his guilty conscience, Wordsworth retreats and returns the boat to its mooring place. But even after the event he describes how he is haunted, both night and day, by ‘huge and mighty Forms’ that ‘mov’d slowly through my mind.’
On his return to the Lake District Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, took up residence in Dove Cottage in the village of Grasmere. In 1802 they were joined by Wordsworth’s new wife, his childhood friend, Mary Hutchison.
As well as being famous for its Wordsworth associations, Grasmere is also famous for its gingerbread, which has no links with Wordworth at all, since it was first invented in 1854, four years after his death. Grasmere gingerbread – a cross between a biscuit and a cake – was produced by Sarah Nelson, a working-class woman who moved from Lancaster to Grasmere in 1852 with her family following the death of her young son from cholera.
The family were poor, and Sarah earned money by taking in laundry, and cooking and baking for some of the wealthier houses in the area.
Sometime in the winter of 1854 Sarah perfected a recipe for Grasmere Gingerbread, and began selling slices of it – wrapped in parchment – to villagers and tourists outside her home. When the gingerbread sales took off, Sarah patented the foodstuff and eventually set herself up as ‘Baker and Confectioner of Church Cottage, Grasmere’.
Sarah’s home is now the official Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, the only place where you can buy bona fide Grasmere gingerbread. The recipe is a secret, known only to the current shop-owners who still sell the gingerbread in waxed paper bearing the original trademark.
Obviously the lack of an official recipe for Grasmere gingerbread presented me with a slight obstacle. However, a number of people have attempted to recreate the recipe and posted their efforts online. So, reading their recipes, in conjunction with eating a few slices of Grasmere gingerbread brought back from my weekend, provided me with the necessary tools to give it a go. So here is my version: try it out and compare with the real thing!
FAKE GRASMERE GINGERBREAD
Ingredients (makes 8 – 10 slices):
200g plain flour
50g fine oatmeal (I ground up porridge oats in a food processor)
2 rounded teaspoons ground ginger
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
125g light soft brown sugar
125g butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 tablespoons finely chopped stem ginger (or more if you want a more fiery ginger experience)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C / fan 160C / gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm sandwich cake tin.
Place the dry ingredients (i.e. everything except the butter, golden syrup and stem ginger) in a large bowl and mix together.
Melt the butter and syrup in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly (the mixture will still be slightly crumbly). Then stir in the finely cut ginger.
Press the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes (it will be going slightly golden brown on top, but will still feel quite soft to the touch as the mixture will harden as it cools). Whilst the mixture is still warm, use a knife to mark it into portions, but leave it to cool in the tin.
