FROM fine sunny mornings to snow showers, black clouds to stormy evenings, Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere journal placed daily weather in the spotlight.

Now, more than two centuries later, pupils from two Kendal schools have been taking their own inspiration from meteorological events and Romanticism to create textiles, painting, photography and dance.

Since January, the Wordsworth Trust has been working with Old Hutton Primary School and Queen Katherine School as part of the far-reaching project British Romantic Writing and Environmental Catastrophe.

Youngsters have visited Dove Cottage, at Grasmere, for poetry readings and creative writing in response to weather walks, and have been visited by trust staff, artists and poets, including writer Holly Corfield Carr.

Teacher/artist Kerry Howarth recently embarked on a workshop with each school based on the paintings of JMW Turner, particularly those following the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, in Indonesia, when volcanic ash and gas led to fiery red sunsets.

Originally it was hoped 120 pupils would be able to join in with the project, but to date 198 have taken part, including youngsters from two schools in Leeds.

They will continue to work with trust staff throughout the year, and their work is now on display at Grasmere's Wordsworth Museum until August 28.

The ambitious project exploring Romantic writers' fascination with weather and environmental catastrophe is being led by Dr David Higgins, associate professor in English literature at the University of Leeds. The first investigation of its kind, Dr Higgins' work is being funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The project has also led to the exhibition Weather Words, jointly curated by the Wordsworth Trust and Keswick artist Alison Critchlow, and on show until August 28.

In a special case designed by Alison, two of Dorothy's surviving, handwritten Grasmere notebooks are displayed alongside paintings by Alison inspired by archive manuscripts. They include Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Ode to Rain, written in an upstairs room at Dove Cottage; and extracts from Dorothy's journal.

"The first part of my painting process is always working outside in sketch books, or painting direct," said Alison, "and so I am loving doing this with Dorothy Wordsworth for company... there are moments when time hardly features."

Trust curator Jeff Cowton said Alison's paintings offered "a visual interpretation of the manuscripts, adding: "This unique exhibition of original Wordsworth archive material and contemporary art could only happen here at the Wordsworth Museum."

The weather project has also seen the Wordsworth Trust's outreach team travelling far and wide, from Shap to Maryport, the Solway Plain to northern fells villages. Through workshops, walks and talks, community groups have been reflecting on how climate change is affecting their lives.

For more, visit www.wordsworth.org.uk