Farringford

Historic Building

Farringford is a Victorian house near Freshwater Bay that was the home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the Poet Laureate, from 1853 until his death in 1892. Tennyson chose the Isle of Wight for the relative seclusion it offered from the pressures of his fame, and he wrote many of his best-known works at Farringford, including Maud, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and parts of Idylls of the King. The house is set in grounds that lead down towards Freshwater Bay, and the surrounding downland, now known as Tennyson Down, was his favoured walking ground where he composed verses while striding along the chalk ridge. The high cliff above the Needles is named in his honour, and a monument marks the spot. Farringford was a centre of Victorian literary and intellectual life, with guests including Prince Albert, Charles Darwin, Lewis Carroll, and Julia Margaret Cameron, the pioneering photographer who lived nearby at Dimbola Lodge and took some of her most famous portraits here. The house has been restored and now operates as a hotel, with the principal rooms preserved to reflect their appearance during Tennyson's residence. The grounds and some public areas are accessible to non-residents. It is an atmospheric literary site in a beautiful coastal setting.