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We've compiled the best of the best in The Lake District - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Focusing on natural history and archaeology, this grand, old-fashioned museum is a cabinet of curiosities from near and far. The Kendal and Westmorland Gallery includes everything from Mesolithic tools to a Viking boat from near Kentmere tarn. The World Wildlife gallery has a reconstruction of the now-extinct dodo. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions and workshops with local artists.
In a 16th-century building that served as a school from 1670 to the 1970s, this museum contains Stone Age axe heads, interesting fossils and minerals, and an informative film about Cumbria's Neolithic history. The Penrith Tourist Information Centre is here, too.
This repository of fascinating and thought-provoking manuscripts, personal items, and watercolors by John Ruskin illuminates his thinking and influence. There is also a focus on speedboat racer Donald Campbell, whose Bluebird K7, dragged up from Coniston Water, is on display. It will be fitted with an engine so it can run again on Coniston Water in 2026. Good local-interest exhibits include copper mining, geology, lace, and more. Upstairs, the Dawson Gallery occasionally hosts high-profile artists.
