A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide some form of service to the manorial lord.Daniel D. McGarry, ''Medieval history and civilization'' (1976) p 242 However, in time cottage just became the general term for a small house. In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cosy

dwelling In law, a dwelling (also known as a residence, abode or domicile) is a self-contained unit of accommodation – such as a house, apartment, mobile home, houseboat, recreational vehicle, or other "substantial" structure – used as a home by ...

, typically in a rural or semi-rural location and not necessarily in England. The

cottage orné dates back to a movement of "rustic" stylised cottages of the late 18th and early 19th centuries during the Romantic movement, when some sought to discover a more natural way of living as opposed to the formality of the preceding Baroque and Neo ...

, often quite large and grand residences built by the nobility, dates back to a movement of "rustic" stylised cottages of the late 18th and early 19th century during the Romantic movement. In

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

the term now denotes a small, cosy dwelling of traditional build, although it can also be applied to modern construction designed to resemble traditional houses (" mock cottages"). Cottages may be detached houses, or terraced, such as those built to house workers in mining villages. The

tied accommodation In the United Kingdom, a tied cottage is typically a dwelling owned by an employer that is rented to an employee: if the employee leaves their job they may have to vacate the property; in this way the employee is tied to their employer. While the ...

provided to farm workers was usually a cottage, see

cottage garden The cottage garden is a distinct garden style that uses informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental plants, ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, it depends on grace and charm rather than grandeu ...

. In England the term

holiday cottage A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

now denotes a specialised form of residential let property, attracting various tax benefits to the owner. The

exists in many cultures under different names. In

Canadian English Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the Variety (linguistics), varieties of English language, English used in Canada. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or ...

and

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

, "cottage" is one term for such holiday homes, although they may also be called a "cabin", "

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-su ...

", or even "camp". In Australia, the term "cabin" is common, cottage usually referring to a smaller pre-modern period dwelling. In certain countries (e.g. Nordics,

Baltics The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

, and Russia) the term "cottage" has local synonyms: In Finnish ''mökki'', in Estonian ''suvila'', in Latvian ''vasarnīca'', in Livonian ''sõvvõkuodā'', in Swedish ''stuga'', in Norwegian ''hytte'' (from the German word ''Hütte''), in Czech or Slovak ''chata'' or ''chalupa'', in Russian ''дача'' (''

dacha A dacha (Belarusian, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of former Soviet Union, post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ...

''). In places such as Canada, "cottage" carries no connotations of size (compare with

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

or hermitage).

Etymology

The word ''cottage'' (

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

''cotagium'') derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''cot, cote'' "hut" and

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''cot'' "hut, cottage", from Old Norse ''kot'' "hut" and related to Middle Low German ''kotten'' (cottage, hut). Examples of this may be found in 15th century Manorial roll, manor court rolls. The house of the cottage bore the Latin name: "''domus''", while the barn of the cottage was termed "''grangia''".

England

Medieval

The word originally referred to a humble rural detached dwelling of a '' cotter'', a semi-independent resident of a manor who had certain residential rights from the

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

, and who in the social hierarchy was a grade above the slave (mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086), who had no right of tenure and worked full-time to the orders of the lord. In the Domesday Book, they were referred to as ''Coterelli''. The cottage had a small amount of surrounding agricultural land, perhaps two or three acres, from which the resident gained his livelihood and sustenance. It was defined by its function of housing a cotter, rather than by its form, which varied, but it was certainly small and cheaply built and purely functional, with no non-essential architectural flourishes. It would have been built from the cheapest locally available materials and in the local style, thus in wheat-growing areas, it would be roofed in thatch, and in slate-rich locations, such as Cornwall, slates would be used for roofing. In stone-rich areas, its walls would be built of rubble stone, and in other areas, such as Devon, was commonly built from cob.

Industrial Revolution

In England from about the 18th century onwards, the development of industry led to the development of

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

' cottages and

miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

' cottages.

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.The Condition of the Working Class in England ''The Condition of the Working Class in England'' () is an 1845 book by the German philosopher Friedrich Engels, a study of the industrial working class in Victorian England. Engels' first book, it was originally written in German; an English t ...

''.

Enclosure acts

Over the years various English acts of Parliament removed the right of the cottager to hold land. According to John Lawrence Hammond and Barbara Hammond in their book ''The Village Labourer'', before an

inclosure act The inclosure acts created legal property rights to land previously held in common in England and Wales, particularly open fields and common land. Between 1604 and 1914 over 5,200 individual acts enclosing public land were passed, affecting 28,0 ...

a cottager was a farm labourer with land, and after an

the cottager was a farm labourer without land.

Legal definition

In the law of England and Wales the definition of a cottage is "a small house or habitation without land". However, originally under an Elizabethan statute, the cottage had to be built with at least of land.

Wales

The Ugly House near Betws-Y-Coed - geograph

The Welsh '' Tŷ unnos'' or "house in a night", was built by squatters on a plot of land defined by the throw of an

axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

from each corner of the property. In Welsh a cottage is known as ''bwthyn'' and its inhabitant ''preswlydd''. pp. 136, 178

Scotland

In Scotland the equivalent to cottager would be the crofter and the term for the building and its land would be croft.

Ireland

Irish cottages, known as , were historically the homes of farmworkers and labourers, but in recent years the term has assumed a romantic connotation especially when referring to cottages with

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

ed roofs (). These thatched cottages were once to be seen all over Ireland, but most have become dilapidated due to newer and modern developments. However, there has been a recent revival of restoring these old cottages, with people wanting a more traditional home. Today, thatched cottages are now mostly built for the tourist industry and many can be let out as accommodation.

Modern usage in Britain and Ireland

In popular modern culture, the term ''cottage'' is used in a more general and romantic context and can date from any era but the term is usually applied to pre-modern dwellings. Older, pre-Victorian cottages tend to have restricted height, and often have construction timber exposed, sometimes intruding into the living space. Modern renovations of such dwellings often seek to re-expose timber purlins, rafters, posts, etc. which have been covered, in an attempt to establish perceived historical authenticity. Older cottages are typically modest, often semi-detached or terraced, with only four basic rooms ("two up, two down"), although subsequent modifications can create more spacious accommodation. A labourer's or fisherman's one-roomed house, often attached to a larger property, is a particular type of cottage and is called a ''penty''. The term cottage has also been used for a larger house that is practical rather than pretentious: see Chawton Cottage.

Outside Britain and Ireland

North America

Although the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' states that the term ''cottage'' is used in North America to represent "a summer residence (often on a large and sumptuous scale) at a watering-place or a health or pleasure resort," most Americans expect a cottage, particularly a summer cottage, to be a relatively small, possibly unfinished house. Various editions of the quintessentially American ''

Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the US English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), a US lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...

'' define it as "a small house; any modest country or suburban dwelling," (fifth edition) with the eleventh edition describing even a vacation cottage as "a usu. small house for vacation use." In North America, most buildings known as cottages are used for weekend or summer getaways by city dwellers. Cottage owners often rent their properties to tourists as a source of revenue. In

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands Saint John (; ) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent Districts and sub-districts of the United States Virgin Islands, district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of ...

, most cottages are vacation rentals used for weekend or summer getaways. In Michigan, a cottage normally means a summer residence farther north near or on a lake. An example of a

colonial era Colonial period (a period in a country's history where it was subject to management by a colonial power) may refer to: Continents *European colonization of the Americas * Colonisation of Africa * Western imperialism in Asia Countries * Col ...

cottage in North America is a small

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

house called Boelson Cottage in

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, w ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

—one of the oldest extant houses within the city (c.1678–84). In the jargon of English-speaking

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

's real-estate industry, a cottage is any two-storey house, as opposed to a

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

. However, "cottages" in Eastern Canada are generally located next to lakes, rivers, or the ocean in forested areas. They are used as a place to spend holidays with friends and family; common activities include swimming, canoeing, waterskiing, fishing,

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

, and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

. There are also many well-known

summer colonies The term summer colony is often used, particularly in the United States, to describe well-known resorts and upper-class enclaves, typically located near the ocean, lakes, or mountains of New England, the Northeast United States, or the Great La ...

. Cottage living is one of the most popular tourist draws in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, parts of which have come to be known as

cottage country Cottage country is a common name in Ontario, New Brunswick, and other regions of Canada for areas that are popular locations for recreational properties such as cottages and summer homes. In the Greater Toronto Area, cottage country traffic r ...

. This term typically refers to the north and south shores of

Georgian Bay, Ontario The Township of Georgian Bay is an area municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, in south-central Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Severn River, where it empties into the eponymous Georgian Bay. The municipal offices are at Po ...

; Muskoka, Ontario; Haliburton, Ontario; and the Kawartha Lakes, Ontario; but has also been used to describe several other Canadian regions. The practice of renting cottages has become widespread in these regions, especially with rising property taxes for waterfront property. What Eastern Canadians refer to as "cottages" (seasonal-use dwellings), are generally referred to as "cabins" in most of North America. This is most notable in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and the Western United States, and Western Canada. In much of

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, and

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, a summer house near a body of water is known as a camp. In the 1960s and 1970s, the A-Frame house became a popular cottage style in North America. In the 1920s and 30s many

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

s were built in the style of Old World cottages. Comprising about a third of the stations built in the United States in those years, cottage-patterned facilities evoked a picturesque homeyness and were easier to gain approval for than the more stylized or attention-grabbing designs also commonly used at the dawn of the automobile era.

Australia

In Australia, the term "cabin" or "shack" is commonly used for a small dwelling, the former more often for a place of residence or tourist accommodation and the latter for a simple recreational shelter, typically not continuously occupied. The term cottage usually refers to historic smaller residential buildings, commonly stone or brick, typically from Georgian or Victorian. More recently, cabins are often also referred to tiny houses, however, cabins are built at a permanent site on proper footings, while the term tiny house often implies that the dwelling is built on a trailer platform and can be relocated.

Nordic countries

Finland

''Statistics Finland'' defines a cottage (,

Finland Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish (; ) is a Variety (linguistics), variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking population, common ...

: ''stuga'' or ''villa'') as "a residential building that is used as a holiday or free-time dwelling and is permanently constructed or erected on its site". Finnish cottages are traditionally built of logs but other wood constructions have become common. They are usually situated close to water and almost all have a

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

. There are 474,277 cottages in Finland (2005), a country with 187,888 lakes and 179,584 islands, including rental

s owned by hospitality companies but excluding holiday villages and buildings on garden allotments. Reports have 4,172 new cottages built in 2005. Most cottages are situated in the municipalities of

Kuusamo Kuusamo (; ; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is located in Koillismaa, the northeastern part of the Northern Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The municipality h ...

(6,196 cottages on 1 January 2006),

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

(5,194), Ekenäs (Tammisaari – 5,053),

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; ; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city in, and the regional capital of, South Savo, Finland, located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population is approximately , while the Mikkeli sub-region of Southern Savonia has a populat ...

(4,649), and

Mäntyharju Mäntyharju (, ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia regions of Finland, region, about southwest of Mikkeli. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is w ...

(4,630).

Sweden

The formal Swedish term for cottages is ''fritidshus'' (vacation house) or ''stuga'', of which there are 680.000 in Sweden (2007). According to Statistics Sweden, about 50% of the Swedish population has access to a vacation house. In everyday talk, Swedes refer to their cottages as ''lantstället'' (the country house) or ''stugan'' (the cottage). Most vacation houses in Sweden are to be found along the coasts and around the major cities. Prices vary a lot depending on location; a modern seaside house near Stockholm may cost 100 times as much as a simple cottage in the inner regions of northern Sweden. Until the end of World War II, only a small wealthy Swedish elite could afford vacation houses—often both a large seaside house and a hunting cabin up north. During the rapid urbanisation in the 1950s and 1960s, many families were able to retain their old farmhouses, village cottages, and fisherman cabins and convert them into vacation houses. In addition, economic growth made it possible even for low-income families to buy small lots in the countryside where they could erect simple houses. Former vacation houses near the large cities have gradually been converted into permanent homes as a result of

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

. The traditional Swedish cottage is a simple paneled house made of wood and painted in

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

. They may contain 1–3 small bedrooms and also a small bathroom. In the combined kitchen and living room (''storstuga'') there is usually a fireplace. Today, many cottages have been extended with "outdoor rooms" (semi-heated external rooms with glass walls and a thin roof) and large wood terraces. As a result of the friggebod reform in 1979, many cottage owners have built additional guesthouses on their lots.

Norway

The formal Norwegian term for cottages is '' hytte'' or ''fritidsbolig'' (vacation house). In Norway, cabins are often built near leisure activities such as hunting, fishing, and outdoor life / outdoor sports, or in areas with particularly beautiful nature, such as in the woods, in the mountains, or by the sea. In the most attractive areas, it has become increasingly common with regulated fields where the cabins are very close together, in so-called "cabin villages". Chained cabins and holiday apartments are also being built here, similar to a normal city.

Russia

The first known "cottages" were built in Russia in the 19th century, when British culture was popular. Today many large cities in Russia are surrounded by cottage villages. So it is legitimate to talk about the appearance of the term "Russian cottage" – a house, comparable in size to a British villa or even a mansion, and includes a corresponding piece of land.Харит М.Д. "Новый век российской усадьбы". Популярная энциклопедия архитектуры. т.1. 2001 г., Изд. АСТ (издательство), Москва,

South Africa

Much like in the rest of the world, cottages in South Africa housed agricultural workers and their friends and families. A number of cottages were also constructed for fishermen along the West and South Coasts of the country throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Most cottages are single-story two to four-room structures, sometimes with an attic for storing supplies. Most cottages in the Western Cape area of South Africa have thatched roofs and stone or

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

walls which were traditionally

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

ed. A large number of the remaining cottages in the country are listed heritage sites.

Notable cottages

* Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Fife, Scotland – weaver's cottage, birthplace of industrialist and philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

Anne Hathaway's Cottage Anne Hathaway's Cottage is a twelve-roomed former farmhouse where Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare), Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, lived as a child. It is situated in Shottery about west of Stratford-upon-Avon town centre. ...

, Warwickshire, England – childhood home of Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) * Arthur Cottage, County Antrim, Northern Ireland – the ancestral home of US President Chester A. Arthur * Bishop Asbury Cottage, Staffordshire, England – boyhood home of Methodist Episcopal Bishop

Francis Asbury Francis Asbury (August 20 or 21, 1745 – March 31, 1816) was a British-American Methodist minister who became one of the first two bishop (Methodist), bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. During his 45 years in the col ...

Bron-Yr-Aur ; ) is a privately owned 18th-century cottage in Gwynedd, mid-Wales, on the outskirts of Machynlleth, best known for its association with the English rock band Led Zeppelin. In 1970, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant went there and wrote many of the ...

, Powys, Wales – holiday cottage used by rock band

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

* Burns Cottage, Ayrshire, Scotland – home of poet

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

* Cooks' Cottage, Melbourne, Australia – taken from Yorkshire to Victoria in 1934 * Clouds Hill, Dorset, England – home of soldier T. E. Lawrence, ("Lawrence of Arabia") * Dove Cottage, Cumbria, England – home of the poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

and his sister

Dorothy Wordsworth Dorothy Wordsworth (25 December 1771 – 25 January 1855) was an English author, poet, and diarist. She was the sister of the Romanticism, Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close all their adult lives. Dorothy Wordsworth had ...

* Elgar Birthplace Museum, Worcestershire, England – cottage birthplace of composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

* Ernest Hemingway Cottage, Michigan, USA – boyhood summer home of author

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

* Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Iowa, USA – cottage birthplace of President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

* Hill Top, Cumbria, England – home of children's author

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

* Ivy Green, Alabama, USA – birthplace of deaf-blind author

Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when ...

* La Trobe's Cottage, Melbourne, Australia – home of

Charles La Trobe Charles Joseph La Trobe (20 March 18014 December 1875), commonly Latrobe, was appointed in 1839 superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and, after the establishment in 1851 of the colony of Victoria (now a state of Aust ...

, founder of the colony of Victoria *

Michael Collins Birthplace The Michael Collins Birthplace is a cottage and National Monument (Ireland), National Monument located in Kilkerranmore, County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was the birthplace of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins (Irish leade ...

, County Cork, Ireland – cottage birthplace of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins * Oakhurst Cottage, Surrey, England – preserved 17th century agricultural worker's cottage * Swiss Cottage, Cahir, County Tipperary, Ireland – ornamental cottage designed by John Nash *

Thomas Hardy's Cottage Thomas Hardy's Cottage, in Stinsford, Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, is a small cob and thatching, thatch building that is the birthplace of the English author Thomas Hardy. He was born there in 1840 and lived in the cottage until he was aged 34� ...

, Dorset, England – home of author

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

* Willy Lott's Cottage, Suffolk, England – featured in several paintings by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

York Cottage York Cottage is a house in the grounds of Sandringham House in Norfolk, England. History The cottage was originally called the Bachelor's Cottage, and built as an overflow residence for Sandringham House. In 1893, it was given by the future ...

, Norfolk, England – favourite home of King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

and

Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...

Gallery

Thatched cottages in England

File:Church Cottage, Stretton Grandison - geograph.org.uk - 459243.jpg, Church Cottage, Stretton Grandison, Herefordshire File:Chocolate box thatch - geograph.org.uk - 1219850.jpg, Cottage with thatched roof, Simpson,

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

File:Chocolate Box cottage, Ashton under Hill - geograph.org.uk - 1482850.jpg, Ashton under Hill, Worcestershire File:Circular Cottage, Blaise Hamlet.jpg, Cottage designed by John Nash at Blaise Hamlet, Bristol File:Anne Hathaways Cottage 1 (5662418953).jpg,

, Shottery, Warwickshire File:Thatched cottage - geograph.org.uk - 378606.jpg, Thatched cottage, Brigsley, Lincolnshire File:Selworthycottage.jpg, Cottage,

Selworthy Selworthy is a small village and civil parish from Minehead in Somerset, England. It is located in the National Trust's Holnicote Estate on the northern fringes of Exmoor. The parish includes the hamlets of Bossington, Tivington, Lynch, Brand ...

, Somerset File:Pump Cottage - geograph.org.uk - 1339484.jpg, Pump Cottage,

Harpford Harpford is a small village in the civil parish of Newton Poppleford and Harpford, in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It lies on the east side of the River Otter, Devon, River Otter, less than 1 mile north east of the l ...

, Devon

Other cottages

File:Round House, Veryan, Roseland, Cornwall taken 1964 - geograph.org.uk - 773009.jpg, Circular cottage in Veryan, Cornwall File:Thatched cottage in the sand dunes by Denmark.jpg, Cottage amongst sand dunes in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

File:Hans-en-Grietje.jpg, The

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

cottage at the

Efteling Efteling () is a fantasy-themed amusement park in Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands. The attractions reflect elements from ancient European myths and legends, fairy tales, fables, and folklore. The park was opened on May 31, 1952. It evolved from a ...

theme park, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

File:Cabanas curarrehue.jpg, Snow-covered cottages near Curarrehue, Chile File:Balkhauser-kotten-20040803-06160.jpg, A cotter house (''Kotten'' or ''Katen'') near

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

, Germany – used as a vacation cottage today File:Vikendica (Međimurje, Croatia) - drvena.jpg, A wooden cottage in

Međimurje County Međimurje County (; ; ) is a triangle-shaped Counties of Croatia, county in the northernmost part of Croatia, roughly corresponding to the historical and geographical region of Međimurje (region), Međimurje. It is the smallest Croatian count ...

, Croatia Switzerland Train Window.jpg, Valley cottages in Switzerland File:LCC cottage, Kingswood Estate.jpg, A pair of LCC cottages on

Kingswood Estate The Kingswood Estate is a modern architecture, modernist housing development located in Sydenham Hill, West Dulwich in South London. Comprising 789 homes, the estate is sited on the former grounds of Kingswood House. History 19th century The hi ...

, England, built 1950s