ONE of the most famous poems in the English language is set to reach a new international audience as a couple from the Netherlands have translated Wordsworth's Daffodils into Dutch.

Rob and Cobie te Nijenhuis fell in love with the poet’s work when they visited his home at Rydal Mount this summer.

As great fans of the Lake District, they have been coming to the area for 26 years and now act as social media ambassadors for the region. This was their first visit to the house near Ambleside where William Wordsworth spent most of his life.

“We had seen Wordsworth’s grave and heard he wrote a poem about daffodils, but he’s not well known in the Netherlands,” said Rob, a retired banker from Hummelo.

All that is set to change as Rob, a prolific tweeter who spends much of his time on social media telling the world all about the wonders of the English Lakes, has become a great Wordsworth fan. He translated the poem after he and Cobie visited Rydal this summer as guests of the curator Peter Elkington, and has now sent a copy of the poem in Dutch to Peter.

A story about the couple’s love affair with the Lakes has also been published in their local newspaper.

“The Lake District is the most beautiful place in the world,” Rob said. “We love England, but especially the Lakes.”

Rob and wife Cobie, who works as a commercial publisher, have stayed in Little Langdale on every holiday, originally at Wilson Place Farm and then at Damson View Cottage.

Peter said: “We were delighted to meet Rob and Cobie this summer and will now put their translation of the poem on display in the house.”

The translation follows a more famous Dutch interpretation of Wordsworth's beloved poem.

Dutch brewing company Heineken featured the poet in a popular advertisement that appeared on UK TV screens in the 1980s. The advert parodies Wordsworth's creative process, depicting the poet struggling for an opening line despite the stunning Lake District scenery.

"I walked about a bit on my own" and "I strolled around without anyone else" are dismissed, before a sip of a cold glass of Heineken inspires the immortal "I wandered lonely as a cloud."

The Dutch version in full:

Narcissen, door William Wordsworth

Ik wandelde als een eenzame wolk Die hoog over valleien en heuvels drijft Toen ik opeens een menigte zag Een leger gouden narcissen Naast het meer,onder de bomen Fladderend en dansend in de bries

Continue als de sterren schijnen En op de Melkweg twinkelen Ze strekten zich uit als een oneindige lijn Langs de kant van een baai In een flits zag ik er tienduizenden Hun hoofden opengooiend in een levendige dans

De golven naast hun dansten: maar zij Deden of zij de sprankelende golven ingleden Een Poëet kon niet anders dan homo zijn In zulk vrolijk gezelschap Ik heb gekeken en gekeken, maar kleine gedachten De weelde die de show mij had gebracht

Vaak, als ik op mijn divan lig In vacante of nadenkende stemming Knipperen op dat innerlijke oog Welke het geluk van eenzaamheid is En dan is mijn hart met geluk gevuld En danst met de narcissen

Who was William Wordsworth?

William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in 1770, and spent much of his working life based in the Lake District.

Daffodils was first published in 1807 as part of his Poems in Two Volumes, and was later revised in 1815.

Inspiration for the poem came when he encountered the eponymous daffodils while walking around Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater - this area is now known as Wordsworth Point.

In a BBC Radio 4 poll to determine the nation's favourite poem, Daffodils came fifth.