Whinlatter Forest
England's only true mountain forest: Gruffalo sculptures on the trail, the WildPlay adventure area, red squirrels if you are lucky, and Go Ape for older kids. Views over Derwentwater thrown in.
Derwent Pencil Museum
Keswick, Cumbria
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.
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 charges, and during the Keswick Convention from 19 July to 9 August parking moves to Rawnsley Hall. Factor that in if you visit in high summer.
Seasonal: 1 April to 1 November, seven days a week. Check before travelling.
Looking for more museums & science near Keswick?
Also in Keswick
The Puzzling Place
An anti-gravity room where water appears to run uphill, a hologram gallery and a room that shrinks the grown-ups. Cheap, indoor, and exactly the right length for the age group.
Honister Slate Mine
A working slate mine at the top of Honister Pass with guided tours deep into the mountain, and via ferrata routes up the crag for the brave. Tours take all ages; the climbing starts at ten.
Lake District Wildlife Park
A proper zoo day near Bassenthwaite: birds of prey flying displays, meerkats, animal feed for a pound, and indoor soft play for when the Lakes weather does its thing. No booking needed.
Go Ape Whinlatter
Two courses strung through England's only genuine mountain forest, above Keswick. Height is the gate here, not age: one metre for Treetop Adventure, 1.2m and a sixth birthday for Plus, which finishes on a 130 metre zip wire.