A £4.1 million grant has been awarded to The Wordsworth Trust to improve its museum dedicated to the Lakes poet.

Reimagining Wordsworth will see the Grasmere museum expanded and modernised.

The museum holds the finest collection of Wordsworth’s manuscripts anywhere in the world.

It will create a new gallery for special exhibitions and a community gallery for local artists, community groups and young people to showcase their work.

A rooftop viewing station will enable visitors to connect Wordsworth’s poetry to the landscape that inspired him.

People of all ages and abilities will be able to take part in year-round events and workshops in a new learning centre.

Conservation work will also be carried out in Dove Cottage.

Michael McGregor, director of the Wordsworth Trust, said: "This is wonderful news.

"Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund will enable us to realise our vision for Reimagining Wordsworth, creating new ways of enjoying Wordsworth’s poetry in the landscape that inspired him."

Work is due to start next year and be completed by April 2020, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Wordsworth's birth.

The trust applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2016 and got through the first round of the process.

It has spend two years developing the project.

It was awarded planning permission last year and received matchfunding of over £1m in order to secure the grant.

Last month, it was revealed a £3.29 million arts bid to showcase the Lake District was approved by the Government.

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, the county’s economic body, asked Whitehall for the cash to create the ambitious multi-venue arts project, including Reimagining Wordsworth.

The proposal also included a package of capital investment at Windermere Jetty Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories and Kendal’s Abbot Hall Art Gallery and Museum.