Whinlatter Forest
England's only true mountain forest: the Room on the Broom trail, Gruffalo orienteering, the WildPlay trail, red squirrels if you are lucky, and Go Ape for older kids. Views over Derwentwater thrown in.
Derwent Pencil Museum
- Cost
- Adults £6.65, kids £5.85, families from £11
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Where
- Keswick, Cumbria
- Weather
- Works in the rain
- Booking
- Just turn up - tickets are sold on site only
Graphite was found at Seathwaite near Keswick in the sixteenth century and the town has been making pencils ever since. The museum sits at Southey Works, the old Cumberland Pencil Company site, so the story it tells is genuinely local and not a franchise attraction dropped into a tourist town. For children the pull is specific objects: the spy pencils issued to RAF crews in the Second World War with a rolled silk map and a compass hidden inside, a coloured pencil almost eight metres long, and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee pencil. The spy pencils are the ones that get talked about in the car afterwards.
Prices are 6.65 an adult, 5.85 a child and 5.55 concession, with family tickets from 11.00 for one adult and one child up to 26.95 for two adults and three children. A yearly pass at 33.50 pays for itself on a second visit. There is a coffee shop, a gift shop, free wifi and baby changing, and members get ten per cent off both shops. Season runs 1 April to 1 November only, 9.30am to 5pm, last admission 4pm. Everything is bought at the door.
What it costs: Adult £6.65, child £5.85, senior or concession £5.55. Family tickets: one adult and one child £11.00, one adult and two children £16.15, two adults and one child £16.85, two adults and two children £22.00, two adults and three children £26.95. Yearly membership £33.50 for two adults and up to three children. Under-5 pricing is not published. Tickets cannot be bought online.
Know before you go
- It only opens 1 April to 1 November, seven days a week, 9.30am to 5pm with last admission at 4pm. Winter hours are not published, so treat it as a summer-season option. Tickets are sold on site only, so there is no booking ahead and no online discount to chase.
- The car park is not the museum's own. It has ANPR cameras and you pay on arrival, so have a card ready.
Seasonal: 1 April to 1 November, seven days a week. Check before travelling.
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