Grizedale Forest
Sculptures hidden through the trees turn a forest walk into a treasure hunt, with trails from buggy-flat to proper leg-stretch and Go Ape overhead. Between Windermere and Coniston, and quieter than both.
Hawkshead Grammar School Museum
Hawkshead & Grizedale, Cumbria
The museum has not tried to make the place into anything other than what it is: a sixteenth-century grammar school with the classroom furniture still in place, including the desk with Wordsworth's name carved into it. The library upstairs holds over 1,800 books from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. What lifts it above a room full of old desks is the activity list. Dressing up, writing with a quill, a scavenger hunt, a fact-finder quiz and historical games all come with the ticket, and the ticket is six pounds for an adult and one pound for anyone under sixteen. A family of two adults and two children is twelve pounds.
It is small, so an hour is right, and it suits school-age children more than toddlers. Opening runs to 1 November at 11am to 4pm, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays in term time but open daily in the school holidays. Individuals just turn up. Groups of ten or more should ring ahead. A quid a child for a proper hour indoors is an increasingly unusual thing in the Lakes.
Know before you go
- A pound a child is the cheapest indoor hour in the southern Lakes. Pair it with Hill Top or the Beatrix Potter sites, all within walking distance in the village.
- The opening pattern is fiddly: 11am to 4pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday during term, open every day in the school holidays, and shut for the winter after 1 November.
- Ground floor is fully accessible and the upper floor is stairs only, though there is a tablet and downstairs display for anyone who cannot manage them. No dogs except guide dogs.
Seasonal: Open to 1 November, shut Tue and Wed in term time. Check before travelling.
Looking for more museums & science near Hawkshead & Grizedale?
Also in Hawkshead & Grizedale
Hill Top
Beatrix Potter's tiny farmhouse, kept exactly as she left it, with the garden where Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck were dreamt up. Magical for a book-loving seven-year-old, over in an hour, and you must book a timed slot in advance.