Anyone for Tennyson?
The Queen’s residence at Osbourne helped make the Isle of Wight fashionable among the cream of Victorian society: Charles Darwin, William Makepeace Thackeray, C. F. Watts and Julia Margaret Cameron, among others, all moved to Freshwater.
Of these, Tennyson was particularly close to Cameron and made frequent visits to Dimbola Lodge (her home), which is now open to the public. Rumours of an affair remain unquenched; the gate that Cameron had built at the back of her garden so that Tennyson could arrive secretly still stands.
Inside, the lodge is a shrine to the Victorian greats that Cameron photographed. More than 60 images, including pictures of Edward Lear, Henry Taylor, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, Darwin, Thackeray, Watts and Tennyson are displayed.
Telegraph | Travel | 9 September 2003