9 dated events coming up in and around Keswick, Cumbria. Collected from the organisations running them, not from anyone paying to appear.
The quarry railway's last steaming week of the season: steam trains run on the holiday timetable, roughly hourly from 11 to 4, and the museum shuts for the winter afterwards. Normal admission, which includes the ride.
An hour making a clay gargoyle, or whatever creepy creature takes their fancy, with the museum's learning team. Adults do not need a ticket unless they are crafting, but must stay. Messy, in the good way.
Keswick's big Christmas show, made in-house with the music company Goblin: Scrooge, Marley's ghost and the full Dickens, age 6 and up. There is a relaxed performance on 24 November and captioned and signed shows on 12 December.
Santa, underground. A bus takes you up to a hidden entrance, you walk lit tunnels past the elves' workshop and the sleigh chamber, make a wish and get a gift, then come down an underground sledge slope. The mine's own words are that it sells out every year without exception, and at the top of Honister Pass in December, check the road before you set off.
A working farm on the edge of Keswick: a tractor trailer tour past the Highland cows, sheep, pigs and goats, then crafts, face painting and a Santa visit with gifts in the cafe. Only two adults per child fit on the trailer, spare grown-ups wait in the cafe, which in a Keswick December is not the worst job.
The quarry's railway runs Santa trains through December, seven departures a day from 10.15am. The page does not say what is included or what it costs, so check before you promise a present.
Keswick town centre goes Victorian for the day, with entertainment on the Market Square stage and in Pack Horse Court, and free children's costume competitions every hour. Put them in something Dickensian and layered, it is December in the Lakes.
A 55 minute Christmas show for ages 3 and up in the Studio, with magic, music and a malfunctioning robot helping save a forgotten town's Christmas spirit. No interval and under an hour, which is exactly the right length for a first theatre trip. Under 16s must be with an adult ticket holder.
An hour of puppetry and shadow play from Indefinite Articles: Geppetto carves Pinocchio on stage and brushes turn into a fox. Age 4 and up, and a good one for the week after Christmas.
Places you can turn up to whether or not anything is on.
Thirty-eight standing stones in a field above Keswick with the fells all round. Free, open any time in daylight, and exactly the right size for children to count, run between and not get bored.
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.
Keswick made the world's first pencils and the museum sits on the works. About an hour indoors: secret wartime pencils with maps hidden inside, and a coloured pencil close to eight metres long.
Keswick's own museum in Fitz Park: galleries on the rocks, history and people of the area, plus a hands-on digital gallery where children play a video game version of the Lake District. Under 5s are free and every ticket covers a year of return visits.
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.
A long-running quarry museum three miles from Keswick, with a narrow gauge railway ride into the quarry included in the ticket, mineral panning and a yard full of old diggers. Excellent for any child who stops for roadworks.