ROBERT Woof is a very likeable chap.

In many ways he reminds me of Welfare State's John Fox.

Unassuming and modest, highly intelligent and with the heart of a lion when it comes to fighting his corner for the arts.

"The English language is this country's greatest export" - Robert's often quoted words.

Indeed, if you think about it, it is probably very true.

Of course, he's speaking in a poetry and prose context and from a slightly biased perspective in his majestic role as director of the Wordsworth Trust, and keeper of 50,000 treasures of literary significance.

Last year was a cracking year for the Grasmere-based trust.

Its major exhibition, English Poetry, 850 1850: the First Thousand Years, focused on 35 leading English poets, celebrating their first editions, their manuscripts, their portraits and illustrations, particularly those of William Blake.

An added bonus was the exhibition's illustrated catalogue chosen by Paul Johnson in the Daily Mail and Michael Grove in the Financial Times as their book of the year.

And 2000 saw the trust buy the manuscript of Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Sketches for £ 100,000 with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Spooner Trust.

But the jewel in the crown has to be the hefty £500,000 towards the new Collections Centre from the Jerwood Trust.

Robert was in London before Christmas, but took time out to give me his "wild thoughts on a winter's evening."

Thinking ahead, he said: "We hope that funds will now come together to allow for this major new collections building.

And we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Wordsworth Museum, on October 1.

"The collections have more than doubled in that time, so that besides great books and manuscripts, they hold 1,000 works of art, including works by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Towne, Wright of Derby, Farington, Beaumont, Constable and Turner."

The trust's Tuesday evening readings are always popular, and the 2000 series kicked off with Andrew Motion.

With others such as Tony Harrison and Les Murray among the many literary highlights.

"We were privileged to have William Scammell's last reading before his too early death in November.

His contribution to poetry in Cumbria over 25 years is immeasurable and irreplaceable," added Robert.

The New Year at Dove Cottage opens with the Weekend Book Festival for the arts and books, from January 19-21, celebrating Oscar Wilde; Dutch painters working in Italy; the publishing of Coleridge in the 20th century; and the villas of the Lake District in Wordsworth's time.

Starring lecturers include Sally Brown of the British Library, Christopher Brown, director of the Ashmolean Museum, the Duke of Devonshire, and Max Egremont, chairman of the Friends of the National Libraries.

Paul Farley, the trust's poet-in-residence, will read his specially commissioned poem Thorns, plus a preview of the accompanying installation by Russell Mills and Ian Walton.

As ever, the trust will link the artists of the past with those of the present.

For book festival tickets contact 015394-35544