Keats House

Formerly Wentworth Place and the home of John Keats between 1818 and 1820, Keats House is now a museum dedicated to the poet’s life and works.

Wentworth Place is a charming 19th-century villa set on the edge of Hampstead Heath. Keats enjoyed something of a purple patch during the two years he lived here with his friend Charles Brown, inspired by the garden with its peaceful orchard and also, no doubt, by the beautiful young woman who lived next door. It’s here that Keats composed Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy and Ode on a Grecian Urn.

That woman next door was Fanny Brawne, with whom Keats entered into a doomed relationship, beginning with their informal engagement in June 1819 and ending with his premature death from tuberculosis in Rome in 1821, at just 25 years old.

Throughout Keats House’s charmingly restored rooms, a number of exhibits provide insight into the life and loves of Keats, including the engagement ring he gave to Fanny Brawne and a copy of his death mask depicting the poet as he looked at the time of his death.

You can look around the museum independently, or contact Keats House direct on 02073 323868 to ask about joining one of their tours. These are run by volunteer guides loaded with facts and anecdotes about Keats and his time here at Wentworth Place.