Keats House

John Keats spent two years from 1818 to 1820 at Keats House, formerly known as Wentworth Place and now named after the Romantic poet. Reopened on 24th July 2009 after nearly two years closure, the rooms have been updated so that more artefacts from the collection of letters, manuscripts and relics relating to Keats can be displayed. These include the engagement ring Keats gave to Fanny Brawne, the girl next door whom he fell in love with. The Keats House building we see today is a combination of their houses, originally two semi-detached houses - this stunning Grade I Regency villa is far superior to the humble abode Keats would have known when he lived here. Sadly the lovers never married and it was from this house that he travelled to Rome, on the advice of his doctor. The moved failed to save him from tuberculosis and he died aged just 25. But it was while living here in rural Hampstead that Keats wrote the bulk of his most admired work and penned his famous 'Ode to a Nightingale' from under a plum tree in the garden. The gardens too been renovated with early 19th  century species reintroduced around the Mulberry tree which would have been there in Keats' time. As you'd expect, poetry is promoted and appreciated here through regular poetry readings, residencies and educational events.