Kendal - Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

Abbot Hall, Kirkland, Kendal, LA9 5AL. Tel 01539 722464

Location : Kendal
Map - Ordnance Survey - SD 517922

The Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry shows how our Cumbrian ancestors worked, lived and entertained themselves in the changing social climate of the past three hundred years. Our ancestors are long gone, but their belongings live on to tell their story, from the age of 18th Century yeomen farmers, through Georgian and Victorian periods and into living memory.

The exhibition includes a typical street scene with pharmacy, camera shop, toy shop and tailor's shop. There are reconstructed workshops displaying curious machinery and furnished domestic interiors. Examples of patchwork, elegant costumes, and embroideries from the Arts and Crafts movement are also on display. There is a room dedicated to Arthur Ransome, with his writings and drawings and a reconstruction of his study (left), where his desk, typewriter, pipes, books and general memorabilia are kept. Younger children will enjoy the Postman Pat room, where they can post letters to the author, John Cunliffe.

There is free car parking, a gift shop and a coffee shop. The museum is in the grounds of Abbot Hall Art Gallery. A pleasant walk along the River Kent will take you to the Kendal Museum.

For more information about the Museum see www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk.